II  liilllllillililllll 


CHRIST  IN^^iSipilB 
4     OUR   Gfli     if, 


'm  THE    REV.i    I 

I     iipiiimiiiiii  I 

A,  H .  DRYSDALE.  DP. 


tihvavy  of  Che  Cheolo^ical  ^tminavy 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 
PRESENTED  BY 

The  Estate  of  the 
BV  4832  .D7     ^  "^^ ^ 

Christ  invisible  our  gain. 


CHRIST    INVISIBLE 
OUR    GAIN 


CHRIST    INVISI^Em?!^ 
OUR   GAI 


BY    THE    REV. 


A.  H.  DRYSDALE,   D.D. 

AUTHOR   OF    'the   EPISTLE   OF   ST.    PAUL   TO   PHILEMON  :   A   DEVOTIONAI 
COMMENTARY,'    '  EARLY   BIBLE    SONGS,'   ETC. 


New  York 

A.   C.   ARMSTRONG   AND   SON 

3  and  5  West  18'^  Street 

1909 


PREFACE 

The  idea  of  this  book  originated  in  some 
casual  talks  from  time  to  time  with  friends, 
chiefly  young  men  who  were  troubled  and 
perplexed  *  about  many  things.'  Labouring 
under  misconceptions  and  confusions  of 
thought  that  are  but  too  common,  they  were 
embarrassed  with  difficulties  not  exclusively 
religious  or  scientific,  but  common  to  the 
whole  range  of  knowledge.  Their  chief  in- 
terest and  concern  lay,  however,  in  the  bearing 
of  such  problems  on  religion. 

For  no  polemical  ends  and  in  no  spirit  of 
captious  criticism  or  idle  curiosity  were  they  thus 
exercised.  They  aimed  sincerely  and  earnestly 
at  rehgious  edification  and  further  enlighten- 
ment. And  knowing  well  how  much  easier 
it  is  to  ask  questions  than  to  answer  them,  and 
how  many  problems  are  necessarily  insoluble 
in  our  present  state  of  comparative  ignorance 


6  PREFACE 

and  incapacity,  they  equally  realized  that  the 
key  to  many  mysteries  is  not  to  be  reached 
by  the  way  of  a  proud  intellectualism,  but  of 
a  good  and  honest  heart.  Their  main  satis- 
faction lay  in  the  dissipating  of  many  palpable 
sophistries  that  float  like  thistledown  through 
the  atmosphere  of  popular  thought,  or  in 
noting  the  fallacies  and  testing  the  ground- 
less assumptions  that  give  rise  to  so  many 
speculative  crudities  and  impositions  which 
masquerade  in  forms  they  have  no  title  to 
assume. 

In  these  snatches  of  conversation  there  was 
observed  a  remarkable  tendency  to  recur  to 
such  an  underlying  thought  as  this  :  If  in- 
visible things  have  any  real  existence,  why  are 
they  not  made  palpable,  at  least  occasionally 
to  sight  and  sense,  so  as  to  end  all  doubt 
by  evidence  none  could  resist  ?  Why,  for 
example,  does  not  God  Himself  from  time  to 
time  break  forth  from  the  stillness  of  His 
hidden  working,  or  withdraw,  if  but  for  a 
moment  or  two,  the  veil  that  hides  Him  from 
mortal  sight?  Why  has  Christ  left  His 
Church  below  without  ever  revisiting  it  again 


PREFACE  7 

in  bodily  form  ?  (for  the  inquirers  were  earnest 
Christian  people,  making  credible  profession 
of  their  faith,  though  afflicted  with  the  ques- 
tionings of  an  awakened  and  open-eyed 
intelligence),  and  why  does  He  never  make 
some  palpable  display  of  the  body  of  His 
glory  ?  Would  not  this  overwhelm  and 
annihilate  all  scepticism,  allay  all  doubts  and 
misgivings,  and  deal  a  fatal  blow  to  every 
antichrist  among  men  ?  Why,  then,  did  He 
not  prolong  His  stay  on  earth  ?  And  as 
there  are  many  yearning  souls  in  the  bosom 
of  His  Church  who  long  for  such  a  mani- 
festation as  would  be  a  foretaste  of  His 
promised  final  appearing,  why  is  it  not 
vouchsafed  ?  Wherein  consists  the  gain  and 
advantage  to  us  of  such  a  privation  ?  How 
can  we  be  assured  of  the  continued  existence 
of  One  we  have  never  seen  ?  How  do  we 
attain  to  certainty  about  what  is  invisible  ? 
Is  all  that  we  see  but  temporary,  and  only 
what  we  do  not  see  eternal  ?  How  do  the 
visible  and  the  invisible  stand  related  to  each 
other  ?  Why  is  such  supreme  importance 
attached   to   faith   where   matters  of  religion 


8  PREFACE 

are  concerned  ?  Is  faith  the  indispensable 
basis  of  all  knowledge  and  of  all  science,  as 
well  as  of  religion  ?  What  is  the  relation 
of  faith  to  sight  ?  Is  faith  the  essential  nexus 
between  reality  and  our  knowledge  of  it  ?  and 
is  faith  (of  itself)  an  important  method  of 
knowledge  ? 

To  deal  with  these  and  such -like  questions 
is  the  design  of  Part  I.  in  its  four  chapters  on 
Physical,  Mental,  Moral,  and  Spiritual  Order — 
these  preparatory  considerations  being  pre- 
liminary, and  designed  to  prepare  the  way  to 
the  central  subject  developed  in  Part  II. 
This  Part  is  an  exposition  of  Christ's  own 
great  words  respecting  the  expediency  of  His 
bodily  disappearance,  and  the  vast  and  varied 
gain  and  advantage  to  us  from  His  going 
away  and  His  remaining  away.  His  continued 
invisibihty  is  wholly  in  the  interests  of  every- 
thing worthy  of  the  name  of  spiritual  religion 
among  men.  He  shows  how  indispensable  it 
is  that  He  should  be  invisible,  not  only  for 
the  original  founding  of  a  spiritual  dispensa- 
tion in  connection  with  His  own  name,  but 
for  building  up  a  spiritual  kingdom,  and  for 


PREFACE  9 

creating  a  spiritual  life  and  experience,  as  well 
as  for  maintaining  a  spiritual  interest  that 
should  increasingly  prevail  right  onward  to 
the  end. 

The  early  disciples  who  shrank  from  the 
ordeal  of  Christ's  bodily  withdrawal  came 
afterwards  not  only  to  acquiesce,  but  to  glory 
in  it.  They  came  to  know  from  their  own 
experience  that  the  outward  loss  was  an 
abiding  and  fruitfully  productive  gain.  To 
bring  this  out  in  clear  relief  is  the  main  pur- 
pose of  Part  III.,  which  handles  this  subject 
as  it  is  presented  in  the  Epistles,  and  as  Christ 
intimated  it  would  duly  be  made  to  appear. 
For  what  are  the  Epistles,  but  multiplied  and 
developed  echoes  of  Christ's  own  sayings  ? 
What  He  dropped  in  brief  hints  or  whispered 
suggestions,  the  Apostles  caught  up  and 
iterated  in  their  Epistles.  When  a  cannon 
is  fired  at  the  Falls  of  Lodore,  by  the  side 
of  Derwentwater,  reverberations  are  heard 
echoing  along  its  banks,  as  if  reflected  from 
every  promontory.  And  if  they  seem  to  die 
away  at  the  farther  end,  how  they  renew 
themselves  with   an    increasing   volume    and 


10  PREFACE 

loudness  as  they  turn  back  again  along  the 
opposite  shore !  So  do  the  words  of  Jesus 
find  echoes  and  reverberating  responses  in  the 
Apostolic  writings.  His  original  utterances 
are  unfolded  and  evolved  with  marvellous 
power  in  the  words  of  Spirit-taught  men.  *  It 
is  expedient  for  you  that  I  go  away,  for  if  I 
go  not  away,  the  Spirit  shall  not  come  ' — how 
this  is  emphasized  and  iterated  by  the  Apostles 
in  all  they  say  of  the  Spirit,  as  the  Sphit 
of  Christ  dwelhng  in  them,  and  inaugurating 
a  spiritual  economy,  experience,  life,  and 
fellowship  solely  in  His  name !  If  He  say, 
*  Thomas,  because  thou  hast  seen  Me  thou 
hast  believed,'  how  they  all  in  turn  claim  to 
know  in  their  happy  experience  the  blessed- 
ness of  believing  on  Him  apart  altogether 
from  seeing  Him  I  *  We  have  known  Christ 
after  the  flesh  ;  but  henceforth  we  know  Him 
so  no  more,'  is  their  uniform  testimony. 

And  what  is  true  of  faith  is  not  less  ap- 
plicable to  hope;  for,  in  the  words  of  the 
Apostle  John,  *  We  know  that  when  He  shall 
appear  we  shall  be  like  Him,  for  we  shall  see 
Him  as  He  is.     And   every  man  that   hath 


PREFACE  11 

this  hope  in  Him  purifieth  himself,  even  as 
He  is  pure.'  The  like  holds  good  of  love 
also  and  joy,  as  sayeth  the  Apostle  Peter : 
*  Jesus  Christ,  Whom  having  not  seen,  ye  love  : 
in  Whom,  though  now  ye  see  Him  not,  yet 
believing,  ye  rejoice  with  joy  unspeakable  and 
full  of  glory,  attaining  the  accomplishment  of 
your  faith,  even  the  salvation  of  your  souls/ 

So  the  third  section  of  the  book  is  occupied 
with  explaining  and  illustrating  the  vast  and 
varied  gains  and  advantages  of  a  Saviour  in- 
visible for  our  Christian  faith,  hope,  love,  and 
joy.  The  concluding  words  are  meant  to 
emphasize  the  spirituality  of  genuine  religion, 
and  to  show  how  this  derives  gain  from  a 
Christ  Who  is  invisible. 


CONTENTS 


PAQB 


PREFACE     ...        6 

PART  I 

INTRODUCTORY 

CHAPITER   I 

MATERIAL    ORDER  ;     OR,    THE    CERTAINTY 
AND    REALITY    OF   THE    INVISIBLE 

(i)  We  live  in  the  midst  of  Realms  Invisible     ...  19 

(ii)  The  Visible  but  a  Step  to  the  Invisible         ...  22 

(iii)  Things  Visible  are  all  Temporary         ....  26 

(iv)  How  we  realize  the  Invisible        .....  30 

CHAPTER   II 

MENTAL    ORDER;     OR,    PERSONALITY 
AND    THE    INVISIBLE 

(i)  Personality :  what  it  is        .         .         .         .         .         .42 

(ii)  Personality,   Human  and  Divine,   is   rooted    in   the 

Invisible  .........       46 

(iii)  The  Personality  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ     ...       66 

CHAPTER   III 

MORAL   ORDER;    OR,    HUMAN   NATURE 
AND   THE   INVISIBLE 

(i)  Invisible  Order  in  Man's  Nature  ....       65 

(ii)  Invisible  Moral  Order  above  Man        ....       74 
(iii)  A  remedial,    restorative    Economy  at  work  in  Moral 

Order 80 

13 


14  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   IV 

RELIGIOUS    ORDER;     OR,    SPIRITUAL    FAITH 
AND    THE    INVISIBLE 


(i)  Thomas  the  Apostle 87 

(ii)  Thomas  a  Caution  and  a  \Farning       ....  90 
(iii)  Thomas   an  Example  or   Illustration  of  the  ^V^ay  of 

Faith        .         .         . 95 


PART  II 

CHRIST  INVISIBLE   OUR   GAIN 

CHAPTER  I 

GAIN    IN    TRAINING   THE    FIRST    DISCIPLES 

(i)  Our  Lord  and  His  Disciples 105 

(ii)  The  Change  in  the  Disciples        .         .         .         .         .107 

(iii)  Their  Perplexity 108 

(iv)  Their  Solace 109 

(v)  Tlieir  Gain 110 

(a)  Christ's  invisibleness  would  help  them  to  know 

Him  better Ill 

(/3)  would  help  them  to  draw  closer  to  Him      .         .116 
(•y)  would  help  them  to  render  Him  higher  service  .     120 

CHAPTER   II 

GAIN    IN    ORIGINATING    A   CHRISTIAN 
ECONOMY 

(i)  The  Christian  Dispensation  and  the  Holy  Spirit  .         .  129 

(ii)  'I'he  Connection  between  Christ  and  our  Spiritual  Life  139 
(iii)  'ilie  Work  of  tlie  Spirit  before  and  after  the  Coming 

of  Christ 140 


CONTENTS 


15 


CHAPTER   III 

GAIN    IN    DEVELOPING    A    SPIRITUAL 
KINGDOM    UNDER   CHRIST 


(i)  Obstacles   to  this  Development ;  (a)  lack  of  adequate 

sense  of  sin  ;  (6)  lack   of  adequate   standard   of 

righteousness  ;  (c)  lack  of  adequate  strength   to 

cope  with  evil       .... 

(ii)  The  Saving  Procedure  of  the  Spirit 

(«)  Conviction  of  Sin 

(6)  Conviction  of  Righteousness 

(c)  Conviction  of  Judgment 


151 
166 
166 
159 
167 


CHAPTER   IV 


GAIN    IN    EVOKING    A    CHRISTIAN    LIFE 
AND    EXPERIENCE 

(i)  The  Fact  of  an  Invisible  Spiritual  Life  and  Experience  176 
(ii)  Tlie  Invisible  Source  and  Origin  of  Spiritual  Life  and 

Experience       ........  178 

(iii)  The  Invisible  Method  and  Agency  in  True  Christian 

Life  and  Experience 181 

(iv)  The  Invisible  Support  and  Nutriment  of  this  Life         .  184 
(v)  ITie  Experimental  Witness  of  this  Invisible  Spiritual 

Life 189 

(vi)  Tlie  Working  Tests  of  this  Invisible  Life     .         .         .  191 


PART  III 
CHAPTER   I 

THE    GAIN   TO   FAITH 

(i)  The  Nature  of  the  Belief  here  commended 

(ii)  A  ^  Blessed '  Belief  as  . 
(a)  Worthy  of  praise 
(6)  Accounted  happy 
(e)  Made  a  blessing  to  others  . 


198 
201 
202 
208 
213 


16  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   II 
THE   GAIN   TO    HOPE 

PAOC 

(i)  The  Purpose  of  the  Father  and  the  Christian's  Hope    .     222 
(ii)  Christ  Invisible  renders  this  Hope        ....     225 
(a)  Possible  :  A  Hope  to  be  like  Him  in  :  (1)  Bodily 
purity ;    (2)    Intellectual     purity  ;    (8)    Moral 
purity  ;  (4)  Environing  purity  ....     226 
(J3)  Predominant.       It    prompts    to :     (1)    Physical 
purity  ;  (2)  Mental  purity  ;   (8)  Moral  purity  ; 
(4)  Environing  purity        .....     231 
(y)  A  Patiently  Persistent  Force         ....     236 

CHAPTER   III 

THE   GAIN   TO   LOVE 

(i)  Love  to  the  Unseen  a  Badge  of  Discipleship  .  .  241 
(ii)  Invisibleness    of    Christ    tends   to  promote    Correct 

Formation  of  our  Love  to  Him  .         .         .         .     249 

(iii)  And  to  secure  the  Fittest  Tone  and  Attitude  in  our 

Love 258 

(iv)  With  the  Highest  Practical  Efficiency         .         .         .270 

CHAPTER   IV 

THE    GAIN   TO   JOY 

In  helping  to  ensure  : 

(i)  The  Right  Object  and  Order  of  Joy  .  .  .  286 
(ii)  The  Right  Way  of  Rejoicing  .  .  .  .290 
(iii)  The  Right  Consummation  of  Joy ....     294 

CHAPTER   V 

THE    GAIN   TO    SPIRITUALITY    IN    RELIGION 

As  a  Protest  against  Materialist  Views  : 

(i)  Of  Human  Nature        .         .         .         .         .         .304 

(ii)  Of  Worship  and  Ordinances          ....  307 

(iii)  Of  Christ's  Earthly  Life 310 

(iv)  Of  Holy  Scripture 312 

(v)  Of  the  Church 316 

(vi)  Of  the  Christian  Life  itself 317 


PARI    I 
INTRODUCTORY 

CHAPTER  I 

MATERIAL  ORDER  ;    OR,  THE  CERTAINTY 
AND  REALITY  OF  THE  INVISIBLE 


A  life  /or  the  Unseen  through  the  Unseen  is  to  be  regarded  as 
the  only  perfect  life. — The  Unseen  Universe,  p.  192. 

As  one  chief  temptation  is  to  live  in  the  neglect  of  Religion, 
from  that  frame  of  mind  which  renders  many  persons  almost 
without  feeling  as  to  anything  which  is  not  the  object  of  their 
senses,  so  there  are  other  persons  of  a  deeper  sense  of  what  is 
invisible  who  .  .  .  have  a  practical  feeling  .  .  .  that  things  are 
not  the  less  real  for  their  not  being  the  objects  of  sight. 

Butler's  Analogy,  Pt.  II.  ch.  vi. 


CHAPTER   I 

MATERIAL  ORDER  ;    OR,  THE  CERTAINTY 
AND  REALITY  OF  THE  INVISIBLE 

(i)  JVe  live  in  the  midst  of  realms  invisible. 
We  soon  become  aware  of  the  limits  of  our 
eyesight,  and  of  things  visible.  Things  seen 
we  cannot  escape.  They  are  impressively 
present  with  us,  and  no  one  can  ignore  or 
evade  them.  This  is  not,  however,  the  whole 
of  our  experience.  There  is  a  sphere  of  the 
invisible  not  less  real  or  certain,  though  less 
obtrusi^  e  or  self-assertive.  It  is  easy  to  come 
under  the  power  of  the  visible  and  forget  that 
we  must  take  the  invisible  also  into  account, 
whether  we  attend  to  this  instinct  within  us 
or  not.  The  material  world  itself  is  but  very 
partially  subject  to  our  sight  ;  and  the  vast 
world  of  matter  which  we  do  not  and  cannot 
see  (and  it  is  well  for  us  w^e  do  not  see  it,  or 
life  would  become  intolerable)  is  much  bigger 
and   more  important  than  what  our   present 

19 


^0    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

eyes  can  discern.  For,  however  far  we  may- 
be able  to  see  with  the  aid  of  a  telescope,  we 
cannot  escape  the  conviction  of  an  illimitable 
beyond.  And  marvellous  as  are  the  revela- 
tions made  by  the  microscope,  these  but  the 
more  assure  us  of  boundless  depths  of  matter 
that  can  never  be  brought  within  the  scope 
of  our  vision. 

And  not  only  are  we  thus  environed  by  the 
invisible,  and  camped  out  in  the  midst  of  it, 
but  we  have  equally  irresistible  evidence  of 
an  invisible  realm  within.  We  have  but  to 
withdraw  our  thoughts  (and  what  is  there  more 
real,  yet  more  invisible,  than  our  thoughts  ?) 
from  the  outward,  to  become  instantly  aware 
of  a  world  of  hidden  machinery  at  work  in 
ourselves,  a  world  of  ideas,  feelings,  desires, 
hopes,  memories,  none  the  less  real  and  im- 
portant, though  all  invisible. 

Two  worlds  are  ours  :  and  each  one  may  descry 

A  mystic  heaven  and  earth   within,  plain  as  the  sea  or  sky. 

We  are  in  as  close  and  vital  a  touch  with 
these  invisibles  as  with  any  visible  things,  to 
say  the  least,  and  we  can  no  more  get  away 
from  the  assurance  of  our  thoughts,  feelings, 
and  emotions  than  from  the  certainty  of  our 
head  or  our  limbs. 

This  hidden  world,  without  or  within,  may, 


MATERIAL   ORDER  21 

no  doubt,  be  to  many  an  unfamiliar  and 
untrodden  field — for  people  are  wonderfully- 
ignorant  of  the  universe  they  live  in,  and 
especially  of  their  own  human  nature,  as  if 
they  shrank  from  the  old  oracle,  '  INlan,  know 
thyself — but  there  the  double  region  of  the 
invisible  unquestionably  is,  with  scenes  not 
less  actual  and  stirring  than  those  that  are 
forced  upon  our  eyesight. 

*  Two  things  there  are ' — they  really  are — 
says  a  famous  philosopher,  *  which  the  more 
I  consider  fill  me  with  wonder  ;  the  starry 
realm  above,  and  the  moral  law  within.  The 
one  connects  me  with  the  world  of  sense,  the 
other  with  the  world  of  mind  :  and  both  land 
me  in  the  region  of  the  invisible.'^  And 
why?  Why  but  because  the  visible  is  sub- 
ordinate to  the  invisible  ;  and  the  outer  is 
meant  to  minister,  and  be  subject,  to  the 
inner  ?     For — 

The  sun  is  high  and  the  stars  are  high, 
But  the  thought  of  man  is  higher. 

All  that  is  visible  is  but  the  time-vesture  of 
the  invisible :  a  kind  of  deposit  from  it,  or  an 
out-blossoming  of  it,  *  so  that,'  as  an  Apostle 
says,  *  things  which  are  seen  have  not  been 
made  out  of  things  which  do  appear.' 

^  Kant;  Kritik  der  Praktischen  Vemunfl,  sub  fin. 


1 


22    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

The  seen  is  thus  a  dependency  of  the 
unseen  :  and  what  is  visible  is  meant  to  evoke 
thought,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  does  call 
men's  thoughts  into  play  and  liveliest  exercise. 

(ii)  The  visible  is  hut  a  stepping-stone  to  the 
invisible.  For  it  is  only  as  the  seen  is  expres- 
sive of  the  unseen,  or  is  found  to  interpret 
it,  that  it  becomes  interesting,  or  worth 
thinking  about  at  all.  If  no  thought,  plan, 
purpose,  or  meaning  be  contained  or  enclosed 
in  the  visible  things  of  creation,  any  thought 
expended  on  these  would  be  merely  wasted. 
If  no  mind  be  expressed  there,  what  would 
be  the  sense  of  applying  mind  to  it  ?  In  that 
case,  physical  science  were  the  grossest  super- 
stition, and  one  of  the  mightiest  delusions 
with  which  poor  human  nature  has  ever  been 
afflicted.  The  ignorant  savage,  in  that  case, 
would  have  the  best  of  the  argument,  and 
would  stand  forth  fully  justified  in  remaining 
indifferent  to  any  attempt  at  intelligent  under- 
standing or  appreciation  of  the  realm  of  Nature 
at  all. 

Happily,  we  are  impelled  by  the  very  con- 
stitution of  our  being  and  by  the  force  of 
circumstances  to  associate  thoughts  of  the 
invisible  with  the  most  ordinary  of  visible 
things.     The  thinking  power  is  invisible,  but 


MATERIAL   ORDER  23 

the  world  is  full  of  its  evidences  and  manifes- 
tations in  the  books  we  read,  the  implements 
and  machines  with  which  we  labour,  the  ships 
and  houses  and  bridges  we  build,  the  engines, 
factories,  workshops,  and  all  the  other  methods 
of  trade,  business,  or  commerce— all  these  are 
the  outward  expression  of  the  invisible 
thoughts  and  mind  of  man.  We  cannot  but 
realize  that  things  seen  are  indices  of  things 
unseen.  Our  bodily  organism,  for  example,  is 
the  outcome  and  exponent  of  that  hidden 
something  we  call  life.  For  it  is  now  a 
scientific  truism  that  life  is  not  a  result  of 
the  visible  organism.  On  the  contrary,  it  is 
life  that  rears  and  moulds  the  material  body 
by  which  it  manifests  its  reality,  its  presence, 
and  its  power.  It  is  the  seen  that  is  the 
dependency  of  the  unseen. 

True,  there  is  a  physical  basis  of  life,  just 
as  there  is  a  physical  basis  of  mind  and  spirit — 
in  other  words,  we  have  no  knowledge  of  life, 
mind,  and  spirit  manifesting  themselves  apart 
from  outward  or  visible  entities — but  they  are 
not  visible  entities  themselves.  The  physical 
basis  is  not  the  life,  nor  the  same  as  the  in- 
visible forces.  In  short,  it  is  the  visible  that 
springs  from  the  invisible,  and  not  vice  versa. 

And  it  is  the   invisible  that   chiefly  lends 


24    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

interest  to  the  visible.  Let  any  one  glance 
round  a  room,  and  note  the  objects — chairs, 
table,  floor,  walls,  ceiling,  and  the  like.  These 
are  not  mere  heterogeneous  heaps  of  rubbish, 
casually  thrown  together.  They  express  ideas, 
and  only  so  far  as  they  do  so,  and  are  the 
outcome  of  tastes,  purposes,  and  designs  of 
architect,  workman,  or  owner,  do  they  appeal 
to  us.^  So  the  pain  of  a  wound  excites  the 
nature  and  stirs  the  whole  machinery  of  our 
inner  being.  The  wound  itself  we  can  see, 
and  the  nerves  that  convey  the  sensation, 
but  we  cannot  see  the  sensation  or  feeling 
of  the  pain,  however  terribly  real. 

Here  is  the  boot  of  a  dead  child.  We  are 
in  touch  at  once  with  the  craftsmanship  of 
the  tanner  who  prepared  the  leather,  and  of 
the  shoemaker  who  adapted  it  to  the  foot. 
But  here  is  the  mother  who  has  lost  the  child. 
What  in  the  boot  makes  her  heart  beat  faster, 
and  fills  her  eyes  with  tears  ? 

Fond  memory  brings  the  light 
Of  other  days  around  her. 

The  boot  is  to  her  no  mere  trifling  object  of 
sight.  It  comes  home  to  her  laden  with  sacred 
deposits  from  the  unseen.     For  it  is  the  mind, 

^     We,  of  course^  see  only  surfaces  ;  any  notion  of  solidity 
comes  from  elsewhere. 


MATERIAL   ORDER  25 

not  the  eye,  that  intelhgently  sees  ;  it  is  the 
hidden  nature,  not  the  ear,  that  Ustens  and 
attends,  If  what  men  see  with  the  eye  be 
all,  it  were  a  futile  and  idiotic  task  to  explain 
or  interpret  things  visible. 

No  doubt  at  first  sight  the  visible  seems  the 
only,  or  at  least  the  only  real  and  important, 
thing.  And  truly,  if  things  were  always  what 
they  casually  seem,  or  if  we  were  *  cribbed, 
cabined,  and  confined '  within  the  limits  of 
the  visual,  much  could  be  said  in  favour  of 
that  view  of  things,  just  as  much  can  be 
pleaded  in  favour  of  the  notion  which  all  the 
senses  seem  to  confirm,  that  sun,  moon,  and 
stars  move  over  our  heads  and  look  down  from 
a  solid  blue  vault  upon  a  fixed  and  motionless 
earth.  Yet  there  is  no  solid  blue  vault.  It  is 
simply  a  reflection  like  the  rainbow,  only  more 
permanent.  The  blue  rays  reflected  from  the 
earth  travel  so  much  slower  than  the  red  and 
yellow  rays  which  have  escaped  before  them 
that  the  lingering  rays  make  the  lower  atmo- 
sphere blue,  and  the  limitations  of  our  eyesight 
account  for  the  concave  form.  Nor  is  the 
earth  motionless.  It  is  a  huge  motor-car, 
rushing  along  at  1,100  miles  a  minute,  or  nearly 
70,000  miles  an  hour;  yet  people  are  wholly 
unaware  of  it  all  the  while.    To  the  same  class 


26    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

of  illusions  ^  belongs  the  notion  that  visible 
things  are  the  most  real  and  enduring,  and  that 
a  dubious  shadowy  existence  belongs  to  what 
we  cannot  see.    The  very  opposite  is  the  case. 

(iii)  Things  visible  are  all  temporary.  That 
matter  is  the  solid  and  abiding  reality  is  a 
popular  and  was  for  long  a  scientific  illusion. 
But  now  all  science  is  moving  toward  the 
Apostle's  verdict — *  The  things  which  are  seen 
are  temporal  [temporary],  but  the  things  which 
are  unseen  are  eternal.' 

We  speak  of  the  everlasting  hills,  and  the 
strength  of  the  rocks.  And,  no  doubt,  relatively 
to  the  generations  of  men  and  their  works,  the 
mountains  stand  like  ribs  of  adamant.  But 
Tennyson  tells  us  truly  : 

Tlie  hills  are  shadows^  and  they  flow 

From  form  to  form,  and  nothing  stands : 
They  melt  like  mist,  these  solid  lands. 

Like  clouds  they  shape  themselves,  and  go. 

For  what,  after  all,  is  visible  matter  ?  What, 
in  its  last  analysis,  but  impalpable  vapour, 
condensations  of  invisible  gas,  molecules  of 
inconceivable  fineness  and  in  constant  flux, 
and  with  movement  so  awfully  rapid  that  to 

1  There  is  a  world  of  difference,  of  course,  between  an  illusion 
and  a  delusion.  An  illusion  is  based  on  an  inadequate  conception  ; 
a  delusion  on  a  total  misconception,  or  a  conception  that  is 
ewtirely  false  aijd  mistaken. 


MATERIAL   ORDER  27 

our  senses  as  presently  constituted  they  seem 

perfectly  still   and   motionless  ?      What    is    a 

molecule  but  the  smallest  conceivable  particle 

of    a   substance    in    which    the    qualities    of 

the   substance   still   inhere?      But   while   the 

physicist  cannot  subdivide  any  molecule,  the 

chemist,     with     his     more    subtle    processes, 

resolves    it   into   its   component   atoms.       A 

particle  of  sugar  is  crushed  into  finest  powder, 

yet   each    molecule    retains    the    qualities   of 

sugar.      But  dissolve  the   molecule   in   water 

into   its  elemental   atoms.     These   no   longer 

retain  the  qualities  of  the  original  substance, 

but   become    a    combination    of  carbon   and 

water,  which,   by  heat,   passes  from   a   liquid 

to  vapour  or  gases,  one  part  oxygen  and  two 

of  hydrogen.     So,  even  atoms  are  found  to  be 

manufactured  or  composite  articles  that  pass 

away  into  yet  simpler  and   more  impalpable 

ether.     And  this  is  what  we  call  matter,  solid 

substance,  which  we  are  apt  to  suppose  the 

most    permanent    and   enduring   of   realities. 

Yet  all  this  permanence   is   seeming  I      And 

matter,   far  from  stability   or   abidingness,    is 

constant  only  in  its  incessant  flux,  vastly  too 

rapid  and  minute  for  eyes  to  see.     As  Lord 

Kelvin    says :    '  Matter   may   consist    of    the 

rotating    portions    of    a    perfect   fluid   which 


28     CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

continuously  fills  space,'  and  the  whole  of  it 
'  like  the  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision '  that  *  leaves 
not  a  wrack  behind,' whenever  it  ceases  to  rotate. 
For  under  the  requisitions  of  modern  dis- 
covery, what  new  aspects  matter  is  assuming ! 
Its  whole  structure,  far  from  the  fixity  and 
durability  once  attributed  to  it,  is  getting 
allied  to  the  very  '  stuff  that  dreams  are  made 
of.'  Views,  roughly  known  as  materiahstic, 
which  regarded  visible  substance  as  possibly 
eternal,  have  been  receiving  some  shrewd 
knocks  of  late.  Such  recently  discovered 
elements  as  radium  and  helium  have  been 
very  disconcerting  to  many  scientists,  revealing 
qualities  that  quite  upset  their  former  favourite 
calculations,  and  involving  conclusions  that 
run  athwart  even  what  quite  recently  were 
held  fixed  and  sure  scientific  ideas  of  substance 
and  natural  law.  Much  of  all  the  previous 
conceptions  of  matter  has  had  to  be  given  up, 
and  science  has  become  bewildered  at  the  new 
problems  it  has  now  to  face.  What  if  things 
we  see  are  made  visible  only  because  of  the 
vibrations  or  rotations  of  an  invisible  ether 
out  of  which  they  are  composed  ?  What  if 
there  be  no  mysterious  substratum  behind  the 
phenomena  of  motion  ?  or  if  all  phenomena 
which  we  call  material  be  only  complicated 


MATERIAL   ORDER  29 

modes  of  motion,  as  the  ultimate  unit  of  the 
material  ?  Or  what  if  an  electric  discharge, 
as  revealed  in  the  discovery  of  electro?is,  be 
only  the  way  ether  behaves  ;  a  name  for  *  that 
which  undulates  '  or  rotates  in  incessant  orbital 
intricacies  ?  ^  What  if  the  solidity  itself 
depends  on  these  rotations  or  vibrations,  and 
matter  itself  be  but  the  manifest (dions  oi  motion ; 
and  the  more  rapid  and  intense  the  vibrations, 
the  more  solid  the  substance  ?  Our  bodies  can 
pass  through  thin  matter  like  the  atmosphere, 
but  not  through  a  solid  wall.  Why  ?  What  if 
it  be  simply  because  the  vibrations  are  more 
rapid  and  intense  in  the  solid  wall,  and  less  so  in 
the  atmosphere  than  in  our  body  ?  So  strangely 
true  is  it  that  the  more  solid  and  permanent- 
looking  the  substance,  the  more  inconceivably 
minute  but  rapid  its  internal  shiver  and  change. 
It  is  visible  and  solid  matter,  then,  that  is 
the  seat  and  scene  of  incessant  flux  ;  only  the 

^  This  points  to  the  pleasing  notion  of  the  ancient  quarrel 
between  science  and  philosophy  at  last  coming  possibly  to  an 
end.  From  the  days  of  Democritus  (a  contemporary  of  Socrates), 
with  his  atomic  materialism_,  and  of  his  opponent  Plato,  who 
insisted  that  whatever  Democritus  made  of  motion,  it  at  least 
was  not  the  matter  which  he  made  it  out  to  be,  this  conflict  has 
continued  from  time  to  time  between  science  and  philosophy  to 
this  day  :  though  certain  classes  of  scientists  and  philosophers 
have  often  joined  hands  in  defending  materialistic  and  sensation- 
ist  hypotheses  and  theories  in  at  least  some  of  their  fundamental 
aspects,  just  as  other  scientists  and  philosophers  have  happily 
gone  in  the  opposite  direction. 


30    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

invisible  gives  evidence  of  motionless  and  in- 
transient  calm  I  '  Things  seen  are  temporary.' 
They  shall  perish.  '  All  these  things  shall  be 
dissolved.'  The  forces  at  work  are  wearing 
them  out  *  like  a  garment,  and  they  shall  be 
changed.'  Those  hidden  and  awful  powers 
that  hold  them  together  shall  themselves  burn 
them  up.  One  drop  of  water  contains  in  its 
bosom  an  electric  force  equal  to  a  whole 
lightning  flash.  How  stupendous,  then,  the  fire 
stores  wrapped  up  in  an  ocean  !  And  many 
worlds  since  the  days  of  Tycho  Brahe  have  been 
known  to  be  thus  dissolved.  So  recently  as 
1901  the  starworld  Nova  Persei  was  seen  to  be 
on  fire,  and  was  eagerly  watched  by  multitudes 
of  astronomers  passing  through  many  transitions 
till  it  slipped  back  at  length  into  the  impalpable 
form  from  which  it  had  first  emerged. 

(iv)  How  we  realize  the  invisible.  We  may 
not,  however,  think  lightly  of  so  wonderful  a 
gift  as  eyesight,  by  which  we  see  not  only  the 
sun,  ninety-five  millions  of  miles  away,  but 
the  fixed  stars  themselves,  so  immensely  farther 
from  us.  But  how  poor  is  eyesight  after  all, 
as  compared  with  mental  vision  !     For — 

How  swift  is  a  glance  of  the  mind  ! 

Compared  with  the  speed  of  its  flight. 
The  tempest  itself  lags  beliind, 

And  the  swift-winged  arrows  of  light. 


MATERIAL   ORDER  31 

Eyesight  has  its  own  marvellous  but  modest 
functions,  and  must  be  kept  in  its  own  place. 
For,  like  language,  while  it  is  a  very  wonderful, 
it  is  at  best  a  very  imperfect  and  inadequate 
instrument  for  that  potency  in  us  we  call 
thought,  or  mind,  or  spirit,  whereby  we  wander 
at  will  through  infinity  and  eternity,  far 
beyond  what  eye  can  reach.  We  have  but 
to  cast  our  thought  beyond  all  worlds,  and 
we  are  instantly  there  without  movement  or 
fatigue,  as  if  superior  alike  to  space  or  time. 
For  spirit,  like  mind  or  thought,  is  not  spread 
out  in  space  like  matter ;  nor  in  acting  does  it 
move  through  space  from  one  outward  point 
to  another.  Nor  is  it  subject  to  the  laws  and 
conditions  affecting  matter.  It  has  laws  and 
conditions  all  its  own,  and  to  these  we  must 
conform,  if  we  would  know  the  reality  of 
powers  and  forces  which  cannot  be  made 
visible  save  in  their  phenomenal  issues  or 
results.  We  cannot  intercept  thought  in  space 
as  we  can  intercept  light,  heat,  sound,  or 
electric  discharge.  We  have  but  to  whisper 
of  '  home,'  and,  though  it  be  thousands  of 
miles  away,  lo  !  we  are  instantly  there  with 
the  speed  of  a  heart-throb. 

And  we  all  of  us  know  mind.     It  is  only 
by  mind  we  can  know  matter  ;  in  fact,  it  is 


32    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

mind  that  is  presupposed  in  the  knowledge 
of  matter,  and  not  matter  that  is  presupposed 
in  mind.  Both  the  certainty  that  we  know, 
and  the  knowledge  itself,  exist  only  in  the 
mind,  and  nowhere  else.  No  man  can  know 
anything  of  what  he  sees  save  by  his  knowing 
mind.  And  he  not  only  knows,  but  he  knows 
that  he  knows.  He  knows  that  he  thinks  and 
feels.  He  not  only  sees,  but  he  knows  that 
he  sees.  And  he  is  as  sure  that  he  thinks 
and  feels  and  wills  as  that  he  sees  ;  and  all 
this  is  as  tremendously  real  to  him  as  is  the 
feeling  or  sense  of  pain,  of  which  he  knows 
that  it  is  he  who  feels,  and  not  another.  This 
is  that  consciousness  of  self  which  is  far  enough 
removed  from  sight  or  sense,  but  which 
furnishes  evidence  as  sure  and  real  as  all  the 
senses  put  together. 

Again,  I  feel  warm — that  is  a  sensation. 
I  am  sure  I  feel  warm — that  is  knowledge ; 
and  both  the  sensation  and  the  knowledge 
have  their  seat  in  the  living  mind.  But  I  was 
warm  yesterday — that  is  not  sensation,  it  is 
memory;  and  I  know  and  am  sure  I  was 
feeling  warm  yesterday — that  knowledge  comes 
from  faith  or  trust  in  memory,  which  is 
another  source  of  evidence  other  than  sight ; 
for  I  am  compelled  by  the  very  constitution 


MATERIAL   ORDER  33 

of  my  nature  to  make  this  element  of  our 
being,  which  we  esll  faith,  a  source  of  evidence 
and  a  method  of  knowledge  quite  as  sure  as 
eyesight  itself,  and  wider  in  its  sweep,  if  not 
so  vivid  or  impressive.  And  faith  is  a  more 
essential  part  of  my  being  than  eyesight. 
Many  live  without  eyesight,  but  no  intelligent 
human  being  can  subsist  without  faith. 

How  groundless  the  notion  that  we  have 
surer  evidence  of  matter  than  we  have  of 
spirit,  or  that  we  know  more  of  matter  than 
we  do  of  spirit !  We  have  as  sensible  evidences 
of  mind  as  of  matter,  to  say  the  least ;  and 
the  knowledge  we  get  from  faith  is  far  more, 
and  more  important,  than  we  get  from  eye- 
sight. What  we  learn  by  inference  is  far 
greater  than  all  we  know  from  our  powers  of 
seeing.  Most  of  our  knowledge  comes  not 
from  what  we  see,  but  what  we  believe ;  only 
the  senses  attest  matter  more  directly,  while 
they  but  indirectly  attest  spirit  or  mind, 
though  none  the  less  surely,  by  their  un- 
deniable and  palpable  effects.  For  we  have 
different  ways  of  attaining  knowledge,  and  the 
certainty  of  some  things  is  assured  to  us  by 
a  different  method  from  what  gains  us  assur- 
ance of  other  things.  Some  things  we  know 
intuitively,    like   our   own    existence ;    others 

3 


34     CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

experientially,  like  the  sustaining  properties  of 
food  ;  others  by  testimony  of  friends,  hke  the 
day  of  our  birth ;  others  by  the  testimony  of 
our  senses,  Hke  sound  by  hearing  ;  others,  hke 
the  principles  of  science  or  the  hidden  relations 
of  things,  by  reasoning,  inference,  and  experi- 
ment ;  and  others  still,  of  a  moral  nature,  by 
sincere  and  humble  obedience  to  what  is  already 
known,  as  when  Jesus  says :  *  If  any  one  is 
willing  to  do  the  will  of  God,  he  shall  know 
of  the  teaching,  whether  it  be  of  God '  (John 
vii.  17). 

Once  more,  all  people  act  on  the  assured 
principle  that  there  can  be  no  effects  or 
changes  without  some  cause.  If  a  careless 
workman  become  careful,  all  people  know  by 
intuition,  not  by  sight  or  by  ordinary  faith, 
that  there  is  some  reason  for  it.  It  is  on 
such  intuitions  that  all  knowledge  and  all 
science  must  be  built.  We  cannot  even  by 
reason  demonstrate  their  truth ;  but  universal 
reason  attests  and  sanctions  them.  *  Believe, 
that  you  may  understand,'  was  the  maxim  of 
one  free-thinker ;  and  its  opposite  and  counter- 
part, *  Understand,  that  you  may  believe,'  was 
the  maxim  of  another.  Both  are  true  when 
truly  interpreted.  For  while  intuitive  beliefs 
are  the  very  basis  of  reason,  they  must  also 


MATERIAL   ORDER  35 

bear  the  test  of  reason  and  be  in  accord  with 
it.  We  cannot  prove  that  *  things  which  are 
equal  to  the  same  thing  are  equal  to  one 
another ' ;  we  have  to  assume  it  as  a  revela- 
tion made  in  reason,  and  then  bring  it  to  the 
test  or  standard  of  our  rational  intelligence. 
Some  intuitions  are  above  reason,  but  none 
can  be  contrary  to  it.  Such  inUdtive  con- 
victions reside  in  the  mind,  and  people  cannot 
get  rid  of  them  or  shake  them  off  as  sources 
of  evidence  and  methods  of  knowledge  which 
they  rely  upon  with  as  much  confidence  as  on 
their  very  senses.  A  jury  cannot  see  a  felon's 
malice,  but  they  may  have  overwhelmingly 
outward  evidences  of  its  terrible  realness  in  its 
bitter  and  violent  results. 

So  we  grow  assured  that  the  chief  thing 
manifested  through  the  visible  is  not  matter, 
but  mind.  And  it  were  an  intolerable  thought 
to  suppose  that  there  is  no  intelligence  per- 
fectly comprehending  the  entire  sum  total  and 
order  of  all  things.  '  I  had  rather  believe 
all  the  fables  of  the  Talmud  or  Alcoran,  than 
that  this  universal  frame  is  without  a  mind, 
says  Lord  Bacon.  And  even  the  agnostic 
thinker  says :  '  We  are  obliged  to  regard 
every  phenomenon  as  a  manifestation  of  some 
power  by  which  we  are  acted  on  ;  and  though 


36    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

omniscience  is  unthinkable,  5^et  as  experi- 
ence discloses  no  bounds  to  the  diffusion  of 
phenomena,  we  are  unable  to  think  of  limits 
of  this  power,  while  the  criticisms  of  science 
teach  us  that  this  power  is  incomprehensible.' 
By  parity  of  reasoning  we  are  equally  obliged 
to  regard  every  phenomenon  as  a  manifestation 
not  only  of  power  but  of  mind,  wisdom,  will, 
heart,  and  conscience.  Of  course  this  power 
is  incomprehensible ;  but  not  unknowable ; 
for  even  the  agnostic  thinker  knows  that  we 
are  acted  on  by  it,  and  that  we  cannot  think 
of  limits  to  it.  This  is  good  old  doctrine  : 
*  Who  can  by  searching  find  out  God  ;  who 
can  find  out  the  Almighty  unto  perfection  ? ' 
And  no  wonder ;  for  who  can  find  out  to 
perfection  the  simplest  objects,  the  clod  of 
earth,  the  stone  in  the  street,  or  the  flower  in 
the  field  ?  Cannot  a  man  of  ordinary  in- 
telligence put  thousands  of  questions  about 
each  of  these  and  other  simple  objects  which 
nothing  short  of  omniscience  could  answer  ? 
We  are  finite  and  limited,  and  so  is  all  our 
science. 

As  to  '  the  incomprehensible  and  unthink- 
able power,'  of  which  the  agnostic  philosopher 
speaks,  we  learn  what  masses  of  knowledge 
we   get  of  it,   even   from   his   own   showing, 


MATERIAL   ORDER  37 

though  no  eye  has  seen  it !  He  says  we 
know  it  as  power,  as  power  manifested  in 
phenomena,  as  power  that  acts  on  us.  Yet 
all  this  power  is  invisible.  We  know  it  not 
by  sight,  but  in  its  effects.  We  know  it, 
therefore,  by  faith,  which  is  the  organ  of  the 
invisible  ;  an  organ  of  knowledge,  far  vaster 
in  its  sweep,  and  far  higher  in  its  reach,  than 
any  sight.  So  we  cannot  see  thought,  or 
mind,  or  feeling,  but  we  can  see  their  sensible 
effects  and  evidences.  No  eye  hath  seen  God 
at  any  time,  but  any  eye  can  see  His  over- 
whelming evidences  and  manifestations,  if 
only  it  like  to  look  long  enough  and  in  the 
right  quarter.^     And  any  ear  if  it  listen  long 

*  Euphranor,  the  religious  believer  and  interlocutor  in 
Berkeley's  Minute  Philosopher,  suggests  to  liis  opponent 
Alciphron  that  we  all  have  as  clear  and  immediate  a  certainty 
of  God  in  His  working  as  each  one  of  us  has  of  himself  and  his 
own  doings.  '  What  ! '  exclaims  the  unbelieving  Alciphron_, 
^  do  you  pretend  you  can  have  the  same  assurance  of  the  being 
of  a  God  that  you  have  of  mine,  whom  you  actually  see  standing 
before  you  ? '  '  The  very  same,  if  not  greater/  replies  Euphranor. 
'  How  do  you  make  this  appear  ? '  says  Alciphron.  '  By  the 
person  Alciphron  is  meant,'  Euphranor  answers,  ^  an  individual 
thinking  being,  and  not  the  hair,  skin,  or  visible  surface,  or  any 
part  of  the  outward  form,  colour,  or  shape  of  Alciphron.'  This 
the  sceptic  readily  grants.  '  And  in  granting  this,'  rejoins 
Euphranor,  '  you  grant  that  in  a  strict  sense  you  do  not  see 
Alciphron,  but  only  such  visible  signs  and  tokens  as  suggest  and 
infer  the  being  of  his  invisible  thinking  principle,  or  soul.  Even 
so  .  .  .  while  I  cannot  with  the  eyes  of  flesh  behold  the  invisible 
God,  yet  I  do  in  the  strictest  sense  behold  and  perceive  such 
operations  as  suggest,  indicate,  and  demonstrate  an  invisible  God. 
As  certainly,  and  with  the  same  evidence  as  do  suggest  to  me 


38    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

enough  can  hear  the  spirit  of  Nature  herself 
declare  : 

So  at  the  roaring  loom  of  Time  1  ply, 

And  weave  for  God  the  garment  that  thou  seest  Him  by  J 

So  we  see  how  *  without  faith  it  is  impossible 
to  please  God ' — as  without  faith  it  is  im- 
possible to  please  a  fellow  man.  It  were  the 
grossest  insult  to  say,  '  I  do  not  believe  you ; 
and  I  have  no  faith  in  you  ;  I  do  not  trust 
you.' 

But  as  we  are  all  Umited,  we  must  all  walk 
by  faith,  and  not  by  mere  sight — though  it  is 
only  the  believing  Christian  soul  that  carries 
out  this  principle  fully  and  consistently. 
Christian  faith  is  like  the  child  that  hears  the 
ocean's  sound  when  it  applies  its  ear  to  '  the 
convolutions  of  the  smooth-lipped  shell ' : 

Even  such  a  shell  the  Universe  itself 
Is  to  the  ear  of  faith  ;  and  there  are  times, 
1  doubt  not,  when  to  each  it  doth  impart 
Authentic  tidings  of  invisible  things — 
Of  ebb  and  flow  and  ever-during  power. 
And  central  peace  subsisting  at  the  heart 
Of  endless  agitation.^ 

the  existence  of  your  soul,  spirit,  or  thinking  principle  ;  which, 
indeed,  I  am  convinced  of  only  by  a  few  signs  or  effects  of  one 
small  organized  body,  whereas  I  do  at  all  times  and  in  all  places 
perceive  sensible  signs  which  evince  the  Being  of  a  God.' 

1  Goethe. 

2  Wordsworth's  Excursion,  bk.  iv. 


CHAPTER   II 

MENTAL   ORDER;     OR,    PERSONALITY 
AND    THE   INVISIBLE 


Un'alma  .sola 
Che  vive  e  sente  e  se  in  se  rigira. 

Dante^  Purg.,  xxv.  75 

Personality  implies  an  order  of  existence  transcending  the 
visible  and  material  order.  Perfect  personality  is  in  God 
alone. — Lotze^  Microcosmus,  ix.  44,  and  Philosophy  of  Religion, 
iv.  sect.  41. 

No  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time  ;  the  only  begotten  Son, 
which  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  He  hath  declared  Him. — 
John  i.  18. 

Whom  no  man  hath  seen,  nor  can  see. — 1  Tim.  vi.  16. 


CHAPTER   II 


MENTAL    ORDER;     OR,    PERSONALITY 
AND    THE    INVISIBLE 


Man  has  been  the  victim  of  two  opposite  but 
corrupt  and  misleading  tendencies  in  rehgion — 
a  disposition  to  personify  or  make  a  god  of 
anything  in  Nature,  which  is  Polytheism ;  or 
to  ignore  personality  altogether,  identifying 
God  and  Nature,  which  is  Pantheism. 

Both  are  idolatries,  or  perversions  of  the 
religious  instinct,  one  being  the  idolatry  of 
untutored  paganism  ;  the  other  that  of  an 
over-refining,  philosophizing  intellectualism. 

The  Hebrew  faith  in  the  living  God  is  the 
chief  historic  witness  against  the  one.  The 
Christian  faith  of  the  disclosure  of  God  in 
Jesus  Christ  is  the  adequate  and  abiding 
bulwark  against  the  other. 

And  is  not  this  exactly  what  we  might 
antecedently  expect  ?  For  if  in  external 
Nature   we   find    manifestations    of    thought, 

41 


42    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

emotion,  and  will  on  a  Divine  scale,  would  it 
not  be  passing  strange  were  we  not  to  find 
sooner  or  later  in  human  form  a  higher 
disclosure  of  the  Divine,  since  human  nature 
contains  vidthin  itself  all  Nature  in  miniature, 
but  with  personality  over  and  above,  as  its 
own  supreme  and  peculiar  distinction  ?  For 
is  not  personality  man's  unique  prerogative, 
a  phenomenon  of  human  experience  wholly 
unknown  to  lower  nature  ?  Or  if  there  be 
any  tendency  toward  it  in  the  humble  creation, 
it  remains  but  a  tendency  at  best,  like  that 
sort  of  blossom  which  may  promise  but  never 
attains,  nor  in  the  nature  of  things  ever  can 
attain  to  any  actual  fruition  ?  A  human  being 
is  not  like  a  flower,  a  mere  specimen  of  its 
class,  nor  like  an  animal,  an  irresponsible 
bundle  of  instincts  which  hold  it  in  bondage 
to  its  species  only ;  but  one  who  has  risen  to 
the  free  dignity  of  a  consciously  independent 
or  individual  self. 

(i)  Personality:  idiat  it  is.  By  personality 
is  meant  that  conscious  unity  in  which  our 
invisible  attributes  meet  to  give  us  a  con- 
viction or  assurance  of  an  abiding  and  persistent 
personal  identity,  an  awareness  of  self  as  an 
individual  or  separate  entity.  We  of  course 
may  not  know,  so  as  to  define  and  describe, 


MENTAL   ORDER  43 

all  that  is  implied  in  this,  but  the  fact  of  it  is 
given  in  every  act  of  human  knowledge,  from 
which  it  is  inseparable.  In  short,  whenever 
we  say  or  think  that  we  know,  we  are  aware 
that  it  is  ii:e  who  know,  and  we  are  as  sure  of 
this  as  we  are  of  our  own  existence.  True, 
there  may  be  involved  in  this  a  large  mass 
of  subconscious  and  undefined  possibilities  of 
which  as  yet  we  may  not  be  fully  aware.  It 
may  be  dormant  in  us,  or  exist  only  with  some 
in  a  very  infantile  state.  And,  like  an  infant, 
though  complete  in  all  its  parts  and  functions, 
it  may  not  as  yet  with  many  be  fully  grown 
or  have  reached  the  full  height  of  its  develop- 
ment. But  the  consciousness  of  self  is  an 
indestructible  item  in  all  our  human  conscious- 
ness, whether  we  are  reflectively  aware  of  it 
or  not. 

We  can,  of  course,  stand  forth  as  it  were 
outside  of  ourselves,  and  make  ourselves  the 
object  of  our  own  thought  and  reflection. 
It  is  a  prerogative  of  human  intelligence  to 
become  a  contemplator  of  itself,  so  as  to  study 
its  own  invisible  phenomena  and  workings. 
But  whether  we  employ  this  capacity  or  not, 
there  is  no  rational  being  who  can  divest 
himself  of  self-consciousness,  or  an  intuitive 
awareness  of  his  own  separate  individuality. 


44    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

And  not  only  so,  but  there  is  an  emotional 
or  conative  element  involved  in  this  assurance  : 
self-consciousness  being  attended  with  a  certain 
self-assertiveness,  as  of  *a  unique  existence 
which  is  perfectly  impervious  to  other  selves — 
impervious  in  a  fashion  of  which  the  impene- 
trability of  matter  is  but  a  faint  analogue/ 
so  that  if  called  in  question,  or  denied,  it  rises 
up  with  a  power  of  self-protestation  that  will 
not  be  gainsaid,  so  vehement  and  inexpugnable 
is  the  sense  of  its  reality.  But  the  highest 
aspect  of  it  is,  its  awareness  of  the  power  of 
self-determining  action  or  self-regulative  con- 
trol within  the  limits  of  its  own  natural  ability. 
This  is  our  supreme  distinction  as  human 
beings — this  peculiar  possession  of  ourselves 
and  our  own  activities.  And  in  this  hes  our 
sense  of  freedom  as  rational,  responsible,  and 
moral  beings.  We  are,  of  course,  subject  to 
the  reign  of  universal  law,  and  are  not  in- 
dependent of  external  forces.  Our  freedom  is 
limited  like  our  power,  but  it  moves  unfettered 
within  the  scope  of  its  own  little  circle.  For 
while  all  other  things  are  determined  entirely 
by  external  causes  and  agencies,  we  have  such 
power  and  liberty  of  choice  as  to  be  determined 
not  from  without,  but  from  within. 

Our  will  is  in  a  certain  sense  and  degree  a 


MENTAL   ORDER  45 

causal  or  creative  force  ;  for  while  energy  can 
be  supplied  to  it  from  without,  it  is  ever  a 
self-acting  energy  from  within.  We  have  in 
ourselves,  within  limits,  free  or  constitutional 
self-government.  An  appetite,  a  desire,  or 
other  motive  does  not  sway  me  until  I  freely 
adopt  it,  make  it  my  own,  and  identify  myself 
with  it.  In  short,  motives  are  mine,  not  me. 
True,  I  must  act,  and  cannot  help  myself  in 
this  respect,  but  how,  or  why,  or  in  what 
direction  is  within  the  compass  and  competency 
of  my  own  personal  determination. 

This  is  what  makes  me  a  free  agent,  by 
which  is  meant  that  it  is  not  the  appetite,  the 
desire,  the  influence  that  is  the  proper  cause 
of  my  acting  in  a  particular  direction.  The 
cause  is  myself  in  my  own  freely  deliberating 
will.  And  if  any  one  say  that  my  choice  is 
determined  by  my  habits  and  character,  what 
is  that  but  saying  that  the  way  I  act  is  the 
resultant  of  a  whole  series  of  past  deliberations 
freely  chosen,  and  among  which  I  am  still  free 
to  choose  and  arrange  in  select  groups,  so  as 
to  give  direction  and  momentum  to  my  present 
choice  ?  Character  and  habits  after  all  are 
mine,  not  me  ;  so  that  it  is  not  the  strongest 
motive  that  rules  me,  but  it  is  I  who  determine 
the  strongest  motive.     No  doubt  my  freedom 


46    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

is  limited  within  the  scope  of  my  natural 
ability ;  and  by  wilful  sin  I  may  still  further 
curtail  my  freedom  or  viciously  limit  natural 
ability,  and  so  fall  into  slavery  or  moral  dis- 
ability. By  natural  ability  is  meant,  '  I  can,  if 
I  will ' ;  and  by  moral  disability,  *  I  would  not, 
if  I  could.' 

This,  then,  is  personality.  It  involves  a 
rational,  emotional,  and  deliberative  power — 
a  unity  of  self-consciousness  in  thought,  feel- 
ing, and  will. 

(ii)  Pei'soiiality,  human  and  divine,  is  i^ooted 
in  the  invisible.  Personality  belongs  neces- 
sarily to  the  non-material  and  invisible  order 
of  things.  Not  that,  though  transcending 
material  subsistence,  it  does  not  interact  freely 
upon  it — just  as  the  chemical  includes  and 
transfigures  the  mechanical  order,  or  as  the 
vital  the  chemical  in  turn.  But,  while  rooted 
in  the  invisible,  it  has  with  us  a  physical  basis, 
and  is  associated  with  a  bodily  organism, 
though  it  can  exist  and  manifest  itself  apart 
from  the  body.  We  speak  correctly  enough 
of  a  handsome  or  distinguished  -  looking 
person,  but  we  then  speak  figuratively  or 
metaphorically,  personality  not  being  physical 
or  material,  though  able  to  display  itself 
through  an  outward  or  visible  form. 


MENTAL   ORDER  47 

External  things  may  call  out  and  stimulate 
our  personality,  but  they  do  not  constitute 
it.  Our  human  personality,  being  finite  and 
dependent,  admits,  of  course,  of  stimulus 
from  without ;  but  personality  is  of  itself 
neither  finite  nor  infinite :  it  may  be  limited 
or  illimitable,  it  may  be  human  or  divine, 
conditioned  or  not  conditioned.  An  infinite, 
self-existing,  self-sufficing  God  needs  no 
stimulus  from  wdthout,  and  admits  of  none, 
but  our  human  nature  does. 

There  may  be  a  weak  or  a  strong  per- 
sonality ;  but  neither  weakness  nor  strength, 
finiteness  nor  infiniteness,  is  of  the  essence 
of  personality.  We  have  already  seen  what 
is  meant  by  a  person  ;  and  there  is  nothing 
inconsistent  or  incompatible  between  the  con- 
ception of  a  human  person  who  is  finite  and 
a  Divine  person  who  is  infinite,  any  more  than 
the  idea  of  finiteness  is  incompatible  with  that 
of  infiniteness.  Nor  is  there  anything  incom  - 
patible,  still  less  inconsistent,  in  the  idea  of  a 
personal  union  that  embraces  both  the  finite 
and  the  infinite  within  itself. 

This  we  may  perchance  not  be  able  to  com- 
prehend, but  it  is  not  difficult  or  impossible 
for  us  to  ftjjprehend.  For  there  being  nothing 
in   it   self- contradictory,    there   is   nothing   to 


48    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

hinder  us  in  the  most  clear  and  decisive 
mental  grasp  of  it.  In  like  manner,  there  is 
nothing  at  all  incompatible  between  the  idea 
of  one  personal  God  and  of  three  persons  in 
the  Godhead.  This,  no  doubt,  may  be  so  stated 
as  to  become  a  contradiction  in  terms ;  but  it 
is  not,  in  itself,  a  contradiction  in  thought. 
The  two-fold  command,  'Answer  a  fool  ac- 
cording to  his  folly,'  and,  '  Answer  not  a  fool 
according  to  his  folly,'  is  no  doubt  a  contra- 
diction in  words,  but  a  moment's  consideration 
shows  there  is  not  any  contradiction  in  reality. 
That  in  the  one  personal  God,  infinite,  eternal, 
and  incomprehensible,  there  should  be  in- 
herently and  essentially  a  threefold  personality 
named  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy 
Spirit,  is  no  more  a  contradiction  than  that 
there  are  myriads  of  human  persons  in  the 
one  human  nature,  each  one  possessing  the 
whole  of  that  nature ;  or  that  the  one  human 
nature  should  embrace  in  itself  three  whole 
and  distinct  other  natures,  the  material, 
the  animal,  and  the  rational,  moral,  or 
spiritual  nature  ;  or  that  these  three  natures 
should  subsist  in  the  nature  of  each  human 
personality. 

This  may  be  a  mystery  and  a  paradox,  but 
it  is  in  itself  no   impossibility,  and   there  is 


MENTAL   ORDER  49 

nothing  in  it  incapable  of  true  apprehension. 
For  pluraUty  of  persons  may  imply,  as  it  does 
in  the  case  of  the  three  persons  in  the  Divine 
nature,  plurality  not  in  all  that  constitutes  a 
person,  but  only  in  that  which  distinguishes  a 
person.  So  unity  of  person  implies  not  unity 
in  all  that  constitutes  the  person,  but  only  in 
that  which  is  distinctive  of  the  person.  The 
Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  are  real 
persons,  in  the  common  and  complete  sense  of 
the  term  ;  but  yet  each  distinct  person  inheres 
in  the  one  common  Divine  personal  essence, 
the  whole  of  which  each  of  them  possesses, 
although  the  Father  is  not  the  Son,  nor  is  the 
Son  the  Father,  nor  is  the  Holy  Spirit  either 
the  Father  or  the  Son. 

Human  analogies  fail,  and  they  can  of 
course  but  imperfectly  represent  the  distinc- 
tions in  the  Divine  Nature,  or  the  mode  of 
being,  or  the  mutual  offices  and  relations. 
But  they  may  suffice  to  exemplify  their  im- 
portance, and  to  show  that  there  may  be 
three  Persons,  and  yet  not  three  Gods  nor 
three  eternal  separate  existences.  More  is  not 
needful  to  realize  an  inherent  threefoldness 
in  the  redemptive  covenant  and  salvation 
of  mankind,  nor  is  more  requisite  to  secure 
for  Father,  Son,  and   Holy  Ghost  our  trust, 

4 


50    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

reverence,  and  worship ;  and  all  to  the  one 
alone  living  and  true  personal  God. 

Nor  is  the  scientific  reading  of  Nature  with- 
out suggestive  parallels  of  kindred  trinity  in 
unity,  as  in  the  well-known  case  of  three  rays 
inseparably  inhering  in  the  one  ray,  and  the 
one  ray  revealing  itself  in  three  distinct  yet 
essentially  united  and  indwelling  rays.  First 
a  heat  ray,  felt  but  not  seen ;  secondly  a  light 
ray,  seen  but  not  felt  by  the  orb  of  the  eye  ; 
and  thirdly  the  actinic  ray,  neither  felt  nor 
seen,  but  only  realized  in  its  chemical  action, 
as  in  photographic  processes.  No  man  hath 
seen  God  at  any  time ;  He  is  the  invisible 
God,  whom  no  eye  hath  seen,  or  can  see. 
The  only-begotten  Son  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Father,  He  hath  declared  Him.  '  He  that 
hath  seen  Me  hath  seen  the  Father.'  '  The 
Holy  Ghost,  Whom  the  Father  shall  send  in 
My  name,  but  Whom  the  world  cannot 
receive,  because  it  seeth  Him  not.  Ye  see 
Him,  for  He  dwelleth  with  you,  and  shall 
be  in  you.  He  shall  take  of  Mine,  and  show 
it  unto  you.' 

This  is  all  mysterious,  but  quite  self-con- 
sistent, and  wholly  understandable  as  a  com- 
bination of  personal  agencies  in  the  one 
self-existing  Personal  Being.     Hence  the  idea 


MENTAL   ORDER  51 

of  our  own  personality  makes  the  idea  of  an 
infinite  personal  God  to  spring  up  so  readily 
and  spontaneously  in  the  human  mind.  And 
invisibihty  here  is  not  only  no  barrier,  but  a 
positive  help  to  the  conviction,  so  inextricably 
involved  in  one  another  are  the  two  ideas  of 
self-consciousness  and  of  God-consciousness. 
They  naturally  stand  or  fall  together.  Im- 
personal or  pantheistic  conceptions  of  God 
invariably  enfeeble  the  sense  of  their  own 
personality  in  those  who  entertain  them. 
Hence  among  Oriental  races,  debilitated  by 
pantheistic  religions,  the  notion  men  have  of 
their  own  personality  is  low  and  weak,  even 
to  vanishing-point.  And  obversely,  where  the 
conviction  of  personality  is  low,  there  the 
religious  idea,  the  conception  of  the  Divine, 
is  pantheistic.  A  man's  \4vid  perception  and 
appreciation  of  his  own  personality  gives 
birth  to  his  assurance  of  the  reality  of  a 
personal  God.  This  is  a  conception  easy  for 
man's  nature  to  realize.  He  has  the  reality 
within  himself,  and,  invisible  though  it  be, 
he  feels  he  cannot  escape  it ;  and  on  this 
personality  of  his  he  must  found  his  highest 
ideals. 

There    are    those    who    may    decry     such 
anthropomorphic    views    and    representations 


52    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

of  God  as  unworthy  and  jejune.  But  this  is 
to  forget  what  a  little  clear  thinking  would 
make  abundantly  evident,  that  science  itself 
equally  with  religion  must  fall  back  upon  and 
utilize  anthropomorphic  analogies.  Much  of 
our  knowledge  of  external  Nature  is  so 
grounded :  force,  motion,  law,  evolution, 
matter,  weight,  momentum,  and  such-like 
terms  being  all  of  them  anthropomorphic. 
If  *no  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time,'  it 
is  equally  true  that  no  man  has  seen  Nature 
at  any  time,  whether  as  presented  in  scraps 
and  partial  glimpses  of  some  outward  things 
before  our  eyes  or  as  ? -^-presented  to  us  again 
by  science.  We  can  only  know  it  in  part  by 
reading  something  of  ourself  into  its  details, 
or  attributing  to  it  elements  of  our  own 
personal  being. 

This  is  the  process  of  what  is  called  analogy, 
or  a  comparison  of  things  in  their  inner 
relations,  not  in  their  outer  resemblances.  If, 
for  example,  we  speak  of  a  hill  having  a  foot, 
who  dreams  of  it  having  heel  and  toes  ?  The 
foot  is  to  the  hill  what  the  human  foot  is 
to  the  body.  The  resemblance  stops  there, 
and  no  one  is  misled.  If  we  speak  of  the 
mind's  eye,  not  even  the  most  prosaic  person 
thinks  of  its  having  iris,  lens,  or  pupil.     If  a 


MENTAL   ORDER  5S 

scientific  lecturer  '  handles '  the  subject,  say, 
of  limestone,  every  one  knows  it  is  mental 
handling,  and  has  no  reference  to  physical 
manipulation. 

To  escape  from  such  analogies,  based  on 
personality,  would  be  to  escape  into  illusion 
and  dreamland,  for  there  is  no  other  way  of 
rendering  ideas  vivid,  impressive,  or  life-like. 
If  we  attribute  to  the  invisible  God  the 
possession  of  eye,  ear,  or  hand,  who  thinks 
of  visible  or  material  organs  ?  We  are  but 
attributing  to  Him  powers  of  seeing,  hearing, 
acting,  corresponding  to,  but  not  outwardly 
resembling,  these  physical  or  bodily  organs 
of  ours.  Such  representations,  far  from  being 
derogatory  to  God,  have  always  tended  both 
to  exalt  Him  and  lift  up  man.  For  personality 
after  all  is  the  highest  thing  in  us,  and  it  is  the 
framework  of  all  our  highest  ideals.  Every 
fibre  in  our  personal  nature  cries  aloud  for  the 
living  God.  In  the  very  principle  of  gratitude, 
for  instance,  there  resides  a  powerful  witness 
to  the  Divine  personality  as  well  as  to  our 
own.  If  only  a  person  can  say,  *  I  thank,' 
only  to  a  person  can  it  be  said.  Gratitude 
cannot  be  displayed  towards  an  abstraction, 
or  a  blind  force,  or  a  dumb  law,  or  any  other 
unresponsive    object.      Every  exercise   of    it 


54    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

demands   not   some   thing,  but  some   one  on 
whom  it  may  expend  itself. 

How  foolish  then  the  notion,  '  We  venture 
to  think  that  religion  may  exist  without  belief 
in  a  God.'  ^  Surely  not,  if  religion  mean 
grateful  dependence.  A  man  escapes  in  a 
railway  catastrophe,  because  some  wheel  and 
axle  did  not  break.  He  is  devoutly  thankful, 
but  he  cannot  thank  the  wheel  and  axle, 
however  grateful  for  the  good  fortune.  To 
whom,  then,  may  he  express  thanks  ?  The 
courtesies  of  life  require  us  to  say  '  Thank 
you  '  when  we  are  conscious  of  a  favour,  and 
human  nature  knows  how  to  characterize  the 
unthankful.  A  man  must  either  cease  culti- 
vating gratitude  as  a  religious  habit,  or  find 
a  personal  God  as  its  object.  Even  Positivism 
cannot  get  rid  of  the  idea,  but  is  forced  to 
personify  '  collective  humanity,'  if  it  would 
address  the  grand  etre.  So  truly  does  the 
sense  of  our  own  personality  demand  no  mere 
something,  but  a  some  one  distinct  from,  but 
having  relation  and  affinity  with  us,  who 
knows  and  can  be  known,  feels  and  can  be 
felt,  loves  and  can  be  loved,  and  into  whose 
heart  ours  can  throb.  An  abstract  or  im- 
personal  deity   is   of  no   use    here.        As    a 

^  J.  S.  Mill's  Conite  and  Positivism,  p.  133. 


MENTAL   ORDER  55 

modern  agnostic  pathetically  confesses,  '  It 
excites  in  me  no  enthusiasm,  commands 
from  me  no  worship.  I  cannot  pray  to  the 
**  Immensities  " :  I  cannot  give  thanks  to  the 
"  Eternities."  They  proffer  me  no  help, 
vouchsafe  no  sympathy,  and  suggest  no 
comfort.' 

(iii)  The  Personality  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  That  a  man  should  be  made  a  god 
and  be  deified  and  worshipped  was  a  notion 
familiar  enough  in  ancient  heathendom.  The 
same  notion  is  reflected  in  Buddha's  boast 
of  having  raised  himself  to  godhead.  But 
such  confusions  and  metamorphoses  are  worlds 
asunder  from  the  unique  personality  of  the 
Lord  Jesus — both  God  and  JNIan,  two  whole 
perfect  and  distinct  natures  inseparably  joined 
in  one  Person.  No  confusion  or  mingling 
of  the  two  in  any  mixed  way,  as  though  God's 
nature  got  transformed  into  man's,  or  man's 
into  God's :  but  the  two  natures  united  in 
the  one  personality,  or  hypostasis. 

Our  own  personality,  associated  as  it  is 
with  three  natures,  a  material,  an  animal,  and 
a  spirit  nature,  throws  light  upon  this  great 
mystery — the  unveiled  secret — of  godliness, 
God  manifest  in  the  flesh.  This  is  Christ's 
own    sublime    claim — '  He    that    hath    seen 


56    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

Me  hath  seen  the  Father.'  ^  And  this  is 
humanity's  subhmest  honour,  for  '  the  hght 
of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  is 
in  the  face  [Hebraism  for  the  person]  of 
Jesus  Christ.'^ 

So  we  may  better  realize  why  the  New 
Testament  writers  never  describe  nor  even 
refer  to  the  bodily  likeness  of  Jesus.  Their 
aim  was  to  convey  to  us  the  proper  impression 
of  His  real  Divine  and  human  personality  as 
it  now  is,  which,  not  being  a  matter  of  the 
visible,  could  not  be  enhanced  by  portraiture 
of  looks  or  appearance,  of  feature  or 
form. 

The  sacred  writers  set  no  store  by  these 
things,  however  indelible  their  remembrance 
of  them.  They  were  led  to  adopt  far  higher 
methods  of  delineating  and  transmitting  the 
endeared  and  immortal  personality  of  their 
Divine  Lord  and  Master.  They  had  to  convey 
and  perpetuate  this  portrait  for  adoration,  not 
through  canvas  or  sculpture,  but  in  hearts 
conscious  of  immediate  living  spiritual  com- 
munion with  His  very  self,  and  clinging  to 
Him  in  the  most  sacred  personal  exercises 
of  faith,  hope,  and  love.     For  ages   no   one 

^  John  xiv.  9. 
'  Cor,  iv.  6. 


MENTAL   ORDER  57 

ventured  on  any  description  of  Christ's  ap- 
pearance, and  so  late  as  the  fifth  century 
Augustine  declares  that  His  real  type  of 
features  was  quite  unknown/  The  heathen 
who  carried  about  with  them  images  of  their 
gods  in  cameos,  rings,  and  amulets  often  said 
to  the  Christians  disdainfully,  '  Show  us  the 
likeness  of  Him  you  worship.'  At  first  the 
Church  was  either  too  spiritual  to  desire  such 
a  thing,  or  too  honest  to  allow  it.  But  under 
pagan  pressure,  within  as  well  as  without,  it 
gradually  succumbed  to  the  cry  for  fancied 
likenesses  and  counterfeit  presentments,  which 
issued  at  last  in  the  prolonged  struggle  between 
the  image-worshippers  and  the  iconoclasts. 

The  struggle  began  over  the  question  which 
of  two  types  or  ideals  in  representing  Christ 
should  have  the  preference — whether  that 
suggested  by  Isaiah's  words,  '  His  visage 
was  more  marred  than  any  man,'  or  that 
of  Psalm  xlv.,  *  Thou  art  fairer  than  the 
children  of  men.'  (For  this  conflict  see 
Milman's  Latin  Christianity,  i.  422.)  The 
Apostolic  Fathers — Clement,  Barnabas,  and 
Ignatius — are,  like  Scripture,  wholly  silent  as 
to  Christ's  appearance ;  Justin  JNIartyr  and 
Tertullian  prefer  the  suffering  form  ;  while  the 

^  De  Trinitate,  chap.  viii. 


58    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

later  Fathers — Origen,  Jerome,  Chrysostom, 
Ambrose — favour  the  other  ideal.  The  super- 
stition and  tradition  of  mediasval  art  wrought 
along  both  lines ;  some  desiring  that  the 
Godlike  be  represented  in  forms  of  physical 
beauty  and  honour,  others  in  forms  to 
meet  the  requirements  of  the  vulgar,  or  the 
demands  of  a  semi-paganized  ecclesiasticism. 
Perhaps  one  good  result  of  the  Evangelists' 
furnishing  no  outward  aid  to  art  has  been 
to  train,  exalt,  and  sanctify  artistic  gift  and 
faculty,  not  just  to  supply  any  fancied 
likenesses,  but  to  express,  interpret,  and 
emphasize  some  of  the  higher  conceptions 
involved  in  the  Saviour's  real  and  unique 
personality. 

Finally,  we  may  the  better  be  led  to  realize 
in  some  measure  why  Jesus  did  not  prolong 
His  stay  visibly  in  the  bosom  of  the  Church, 
and  why  the  outward  manifestation  of  in- 
carnate Deity,  all-important  as  it  is  in  itself, 
is  not  perpetuated  on  earth.  In  no  such  way 
can  His  personahty  in  its  fulness  and  signifi- 
cance be  reached  and  enjoyed.  Not  through 
any  avenue  of  sight  or  sense  may  He  fulfil  to 
us  His  own  great  promise — '  I  will  manifest 
Myself  unto  you.' 

The-  first    disciples,    however    averse,    ex- 


MENTAL   ORDER  59 

tremely  averse,  from  the  thought  of  His  dis- 
appearing, became  thoroughly  reconciled  to 
it  by  the  ample  experience  they  soon  had  of 
the  truth  of  His  own  considerate  word  :  *  It  is 
expedient  ybr  you  that  I  go  away.'  This  was 
the  appeasing  and  reconciling  assurance.  For 
if  He  went  away,  it  was  but  to  come  again  to 
them,  the  same  personality,  though  in  higher 
state  and  condition ;  no  longer  a  localized, 
but  a  universal  Presence ;  no  longer  with 
them  only,  but  in  them ;  and  none  the  less 
known  and  felt  as  real,  albeit  invisible ;  a 
growingly  realized  personality,  as  the  grain 
hid  in  the  soil  reappears  in  living  green  or  in 
ripening  multiplied  crop  for  larger  use.  How 
else  may  He  come  in  the  Spirit,  and  His 
personality  be  caught  up  into  the  religious 
consciousness  of  men  ?  How  else  may  a 
spiritual  economy  be  inaugurated  in  associa- 
tion with  His  own  great  Name  ?  How  else 
may  He  put  in  operation  the  most  effective 
leverage  for  lifting  up  the  best  interests  of 
mankind,  and  call  into  play  the  mightiest 
religious  forces  that  have  ever  moved  the 
hearts,  and  lives,  and  consciences  of  men  ? 
Unspeakable  the  gain  of  Christ's  invisibility  ; 
unspeakable  the  advantages  to  us  of  His 
pervasive   personality.      For  how   true   it   is, 


60    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

however  paradoxical,  that  the  very  invisible- 
ness  of  the  Saviour  helps  the  better  to  disclose 
Him  to  our  view,  and  hands  over  His  per- 
sonality in  its  entirety,  with  more  directness 
and  fulness,  to  the  arms  of  our  faith,  our  hope, 
and  our  love. 


CHAPTER   III 

MORAL  ORDER  ;    OR,  HUMAN  NATURE 
AND  THE  INVISIBLE 


Theistic  and  ethical  faith  is  the  indispensable  basis  and 
rationale  of  human  life. — Prof.  A.  ('.  Fraser^  Philosophy  of 
Theism. 

Man  hath  all  that  Nature  hath,  and  more. 
And  in  that  more  lies  all  his  hopes  of  good. 

Matthew  Arxold. 

He  fixed  thee  'mid  this  dance 

Of  plastic  circumstance  ; 
Machinery  just  meant 

To  give  thy  soul  its  bent, 
Tiy  thee  and  turn  thee  forth. 

Sufficiently  impressed. 

Browning,  Rabbi  Ben  Ezra. 

The  Gentiles  which  have  not  the  law  do  by  nature  the  things 
contained  in  the  law. — Rom.  ii.  14. 

Doth  not  even  nature  itself  teach  you  } — 1  Cor.  xi.  14. 


CHAPTER   III 

MORAL    ORDER  ;     OR,    HUMAN    NATURE 
AND    THE    INVISIBLE 

In  the  tumultuous  tide  of  changing  phe- 
nomena around  him,  man  notices  a  certain 
fixed  system  or  permanent  background,  to 
which  he  gives  the  name  of  Nature.  Not 
that  Nature  has  any.  subsistence  apart  from 
the  phenomena  man  observes,  but  it  is  a 
convenient  abstract  name  for  the  underlying 
uniformity  which  constitutes  the  physical  or 
natural  order  on  which  we  rely  and  for  which 
we  look. 

But  man  is  not  less  assured  of  a  different 
and  higher  kind  of  order  called  moral  order, 
which  lies  at  the  root  of  all  Divine  and 
human  government.  This,  as  being  more 
closely  allied  to  the  invisible  and  less  obtrusive 
to  the  senses,  is  more  apt  to  have  its  reality 
and  importance  overlooked.  The  distinction, 
however,  while  deep  and  momentous,  is  a  very 

63 


64    CHEIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

plain  one,  and  easily  apprehended.  If  a  man 
intoxicate  himself,  there  is  a  violation  of 
natural  order,  attested  in  headache  or  similar 
physical  distress,  and  this  happens  even  if  the 
act  be  unintentional.  But  if  the  act  be  wilful, 
there  is  a  breach  also  of  moral  order ^  and  this 
is  witnessed  not  only  by  the  physical  hurt  or 
bodily  injury,  but  by  the  self-reproach,  the 
sense  of  shame,  the  'pain  of  guilt,'  as  Dr. 
Samuel  Johnson  pithily  puts  it.  A  man  may 
palliate  the  offence,  but  qui  s  excuse  s'accuse, 
and  he  is  self-convicted  of  having  done  not 
only  bodily  damage,  but  positive  wrong  and 
injustice  to  his  moral  nature.  Should  a  tree 
in  falling  kill  a  man,  no  blame  attaches  to  the 
tree.  Should  an  animal  kill  a  man,  it  is  simply 
dispatched  as  dangerous.  But  should  a  man 
maliciously  slay  his  fellow,  he  is  tried  on  a 
criminal  charge  and  condignly  punished.  And 
all  this  though  in  perpetrating  the  crime  he 
has  wholly  conformed  to  the  physical  order  of 
Nature,  so  that  the  death  he  caused  was  the 
natural  outcome  of  the  '  cosmic  process '  he 
adopted. 

Human  beings  in  all  ages  and  in  all  stages 
of  civilization  have  thus  distinguished  between 
a  natural  casualty  and  a  deed  of  wilful  or 
criminal  violence.     And  why  ?     Because — 


MORAL   ORDER  65 

(i)  Tliere  is  an  invisible  moral  order  in 
man's  nature  itself.  For  it  is  not  more 
certain  that  man  has  a  physical  constitution 
than  that  he  has  a  mental  and  moral  one.. 
That  is  to  say,  our  invisible  or  inner  nature 
is  not  a  mere  set  of  disconnected  items,  not 
a  mob  of  unrelated  elements  without  any 
bearing  on  one  another :  our  nature  is  a 
system  of  constitutional  adjustments,  with 
powers  of  authority  and  subordination  of 
parts,  some  of  them  made  to  rule  and  others 
to  be  ruled — a  nature,  moreover,  with  self- 
governing  capabilities,  not  directed  by  mere 
physical  forces  from  without,  but  with  inward 
springs  of  self-regulative  action.  As  having 
an  animal  nature  we  have  the  humble  con- 
crete intelligence  associated  with  the  physical 
life  and  organism  of  the  lower  creatures ; 
like  them  we  have  sensation,  perception, 
memory,  and  such  understanding  as  can  put 
this  and  that  observation  together,  and  draw 
simply  concrete  conclusions  or  inferences. 
We  have  also  those  impulsive  and  conative 
forces  in  common  with  them  to  which  we 
give  the  name  of  instincts,  appetites,  passions, 
desires,  emotions,  affections,  and  the  like. 

But  here  we  part  company  with  them.  For 
we   have   within   us   what   they  have  not — a 

5 


66    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

system  of  personal  self-government,  which  is 
our  supreme  distinction  as  human  beings.  It 
is  well,  of  course,  to  note  the  resemblances 
between  men  and  animals ;  but  it  is  of  more 
interest  and  moment  to  mark  what  are  the 
differentiating  qualities,  or  '  how  much  better 
a  man  is  than  a  sheep.'  He  is  not  like  the 
animal — an  individual  or  one  of  a  class  only. 
He  is  a  person,  with  the  three  great  endow- 
ments which  constitute  personality.  He  has 
Reason,  or  the  self-legislating  capacity  ;  Con- 
science, or  the  self-judging;  and  Will,  or  the 
self-administrating  function ;  and  these  are 
three  functions  that  agree  in  one,  and  that  are 
essential  to  any  conception  of  moral  order. 

Man  is  not  only  an  intelligent  being,  but 
his  is  a  ?^atio7ial  intelHgence,  capable  of  self- 
knowledge  and  of  turning  this  self-knowledge 
to  account.  He  is  capable,  in  short,  of  general 
ideas  and  of  grasping  general  principles,  and 
so  is  capable  of  discharging  the  self-legislative 
or  the  enacting  function  in  his  complex  being. 
The  rudiments  of  none  of  these  rational  ele- 
ments are  found  in  the  lower  creatures.  An 
intelhgent  dog  understands  much  of  individual 
concrete  objects,  like  chair,  table,  horse,  tree  ; 
but  speak  to  it  of  order,  education,  conduct, 
arithmetic,  syntax,  and  the  like — all  matters 


MORAL   ORDER  67 

easily  within  the  compass  of  schoolchildren's 
capacities — and  its  intelligence  is  a  blank. 

Now,  it  is  this  rational  intelligence  that  gives 
man,  though  subject  to  natural  order,  a  certain 
limited  control  and  ascendancy  over  that  order. 
We  are  not  merely  camped  out  in  Nature,  nor 
form  simply  a  part  of  it.  Every  effort  to 
resolve  man  into  mere  Nature  has  egregiously 
failed.  For  he  has  a  life  of  experience  wholly 
superior  to  it,  not  in  degree  only,  but  in  kind. 
There  is  in  us  a  something  of  ^z^j^^r-natural 
quality.  We  can  do  for  Nature  what  it  cannot 
do  for  itself.  We  in  part  can  understand  and 
interpret  it — nay,  even  in  measure  subdue  and 
master  it,  though  with  all  his  boasted  scien- 
tific accomplishments  man  has  done  wofully 
little  in  this  way  compared  with  what  he 
might.  For,  as  we  shall  see,  his  moral  faults 
have  weakened  and  misdirected  his  rational 
intelligence,  and  wasted  it  on  unworthy  and 
mistaken  objects. 

But  it  is  through  the  conviction  of  his  own 
superiority  to  Nature  that  man  so  easily  grasps 
the  conception  of  a  Supernatural  One  trans- 
cendently  greater  than  himself.  In  short, 
human  nature  contains  in  itself  all  physical 
nature,  with  something  over  and  above.  Man 
is   not   only   the   microcosm,  the  measure  of 


68    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

Nature,  but  the  measurer  of  it  as  well.  His 
insight  and  foresight  furnish  him  with  the 
knowledge  that  affords  power  and  control. 
He  knows  himself  not  a  mere  part  of  Nature, 
not  a  mere  instrument,  but  an  agent ;  not  a 
machine  only,  but  a  machinist,  and  inventor 
of  and  worker  with  machines.  Not  an  artisan 
only,  but  a  thinker,  an  architect,  an  engineer 
who  can  co-ordinate  himself  with  Nature,  and 
by  acquiring  its  secrets  and  adopting  its  pro- 
cesses can  change  the  face  of  it  and  modify 
plants  and  animals  and  other  existences  it 
supports. 

But  man  is  not  only  rational,  he  is  an  ethical 
intelligence.  He  not  only  can  know  realities 
as  they  are  or  may  be,  but  he  knows  moral 
distinctions,  or  things  as  he  thinks  they  ought 
to  be.  This  '  ought '  in  our  nature  is  the 
categoric  imperative  that  gives  the  sense  of 
accountability  or  responsibleness,  and  makes 
men  realize  that  they  are  under  not  mere 
physical,  but  moral  law  and  government.  It  is 
conscience  which  attests  and  points  to  such 
a  moral  law  of  our  being  which  we  cannot 
evade,  and  it  sits  as  judge  upon  our  doings. 
Conscience  exercises  the  judicial  function  in 
the  moral  order  of  our  invisible  being, 
whereby  we  sit  in  judgment  on  ourselves  and 


MORAL   ORDER  69 

on  our  motives  or  acts  of  will.  This  is  that 
power  or  endowment  at  the  heart  of  our  moral 
constitution  which  testifies  to,  interprets,  and 
applies  the  supreme  moral  law  of  our  being 
that  exists  outside  and  above  us,  and  which 
brings  that  law  to  bear,  however  inexactly, 
as  an  acknowledged  authoritative  standard 
whenever  we  take  cognizance  of  our  hidden 
selves. 

Whether,  as  it  now  discharges  its  functions, 
it  is  a  debauched,  corrupt,  blind,  and  pre- 
judiced judge  is  a  painful  question  too  easily- 
determined.  But  its  very  existence  does 
witness  to  the  reality  at  least  of  moral  order, 
however  warped  it  may  be  in  its  judgments 
thereon.  We  have  good  occasion  to  conclude 
that,  while  we  can  hardly  think  too  highly  of 
the  nature  with  which  we  are  endowed,  we 
can  hardly  think  too  humbly  of  the  miserable 
and  disordered  state  into  which  it  has  fallen. 
If  there  is  a  glory  in  man's  real  nature,  there 
is  a  tragedy  in  its  present  condition.  Still, 
conscience  is  the  seat  of  our  ideals  of  life, 
conduct,  and  character ;  of  the  conviction  of 
a  right  and  a  wrong,  however  falsely  it  may 
determine  what  things  are  right  and  what  are 
wrong ;  of  the  recognition  of  duty  and  obliga- 
tion,  sustained   by  solemn  and  authoritative 


70    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

sanctions  ;  and  of  a  certain  wrath-principle  or 
heat  of  righteous  indignation,  fiercest  in  the 
best,  against  wilful  evil-doing  —  a  kind  of 
'  electric  battery  moral '  available  to  stun  and 
paralyse  ourselves  or  others  who  may  be  per- 
petrators of  conscious  wrong,  or  wilful  violators 
of  moral  order. 

Strip  human  nature  of  this,  and  you  reduce 
it  to  mere  paste  or  pulp ;  or,  what  is  worse, 
you  drag  it  down  to  the  low  level  of  mere 
fiery  or  brute  passion  against  enemies  and 
tormentors  only,  with  no  attempt  at  avenging 
wickedness  or  securing  beneficent  redress 
through  principled  acts  of  justice.  No  doubt, 
with  our  fiery  and  unregulated  passions  we 
need  to  be  careful  how  we  carry  this  naked 
light  in  a  fiery  atmosphere  of  personal  revenge, 
and  we  must  ever  keep  the  gauze  of  con- 
scientious principle  over  it,  like  that  of  a 
miner's  safety  lamp,  to  prevent  explosions. 
Yet  government  without  this  fence  and 
defence  of  moral  order  were  no  government 
at  all. 

Thus  even  conscience  needs  the  control  of 
the  will,  whose  place  it  is  to  insist  on  thought 
and  deliberation  before  any  act  of  choice.  Its 
betrayal  of  this  trust  is  but  too  painfully 
evinced  in  universal  experience.     And  if  there 


MORAL   ORDER  71 

is  anything  worse  than  a  corrupt  conscience, 
it  is  a  perverted  will.  What  a  power  is 
involved  in  the  possession  of  will !  And  what 
a  power  for  evil  is  a  treacherous  and  disloyal 
will,  where  mob  passions  and  propensities  have 
gained  the  upper  hand !  W  hat  but  Divine 
energy  renovating  the  very  will  itself,  and 
giving  it  a  new  bent  and  fresh  start,  can 
guarantee  that  successful  counter-working  and 
resentment  of  rebellion  and  confusion  which 
shall  plant  once  more  the  love  of  moral  order 
in  the  topmost  place,  again  to  sway  our 
being  ? 

Man  knows  the  better,  but,  alas  !  he  will 
choose  the  worse.  There  is  a  schism  in  his 
being.  He  recognizes  and  approves  the  good, 
but  fails  to  perform  it.  He  disapproves  a 
wickedness,  and  yet  rushes  to  commit  it. 
Excellence  is  lauded,  yet  avoided  ;  sin  is  con- 
demned, and  yet  cherished.  Virtus  laudatur 
et  alget.  And  man  is  conscious  everywhere 
that  he  is  himself  the  culprit. 

Look  up  to  heaven  !   the  industrious  sun 

Already  half  its  race  has  run  : 
It  cannot  halt  nor  go  astray  ; 

But  man  with  his  free  spirit  may. 

And  such  being  man's  nature  and  its  state, 
he  finds  physical  laws  and  processes  will  not 


72    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

suffice  for  him.  He  neither  can  nor  dare 
attempt  to  hve  without  some  other  and  higher 
order  than  the  natural  or  physical.  He  every- 
where betakes  himself  to  some  kind  of  ethically 
constituted  law  and  order,  corresponding  to 
what  he  finds  within.  It  is  not  open  to 
any  one  who  would  come  in  contact  with  his 
fellows  to  choose  whether  natural  law  will 
suffice — that  is,  whether  men  shall  live  just 
like  wild  beasts  in  savage  anarchy  and  isolation, 
or  merely  herd  gregariously  like  oxen,  deer,  or 
sheep  for  self-protection.  They  must  have 
some  law  and  authority  on  a7i  ethical  basis. 
This  is  inextricably  bound  up  with  human  life 
and  history,  exceptions  only  proving  the  rule ; 
so  that  men  and  government  go  together,  and 
these  have  a  history  and  phenomena  of  vast 
moment  wholly  diverse  from  the  play  of 
physical  nature  or  material  sequences.  No 
agnostic  or  materialistic  theory  has  ever  bridged 
the  gulf  of  difference  thus  disclosed,  nor  by 
any  reasonable  theory  joined  the  two  into  one 
coherent  or  intelligible  unity.  It  can  only 
ask  in  blind  bewilderment  the  desperate 
question,  *  If  rational,  ethical,  volitional  man 
is  not  the  result  of  natural  evolution  or  cosmic 
processes,  of  what  is  he  the  result  ? ' — as  if 
natural  or  cosmical  processes  gave  any,  even  the 


MORAL   ORDER  73 

slightest,  evidences  whatever  of  exercising  the 
personal  functions — rational,  ethical,  or  voli- 
tional— that  are  necessarily  employed  in  the 
very  idea  of  moral  order  !  It  is  the  fact  that 
no  materialistic  scheme  or  form  of  evolution 
has  yet  succeeded  in  framing  a  coherent  unity 
of  physical  and  moral  order.  The  miracles 
required  by  such  a  scheme  cast  all  others  into 
the  shade ;  and  yet  the  very  object  of  it  is 
to  get  rid  of  miracles  altogether  !  A  merely 
materialistic  hypothesis  requires  us  to  believe 
that  life  sprang  from  processes  of  dead  matter 
and  quietly  rose  out  of  that  grave,  although 
no  such  phenomenon  occurs  now,  and  we  have 
no  evidence  or  experience  of  life  save  as 
coming  from  previous  life.  It  requires  us  to 
conceive  of  rational  intelligence  emerging  from 
blind,  unintelligent  forces  I  And,  most  des- 
perate of  all,  it  requires  us  to  think  of  moral 
order  just  coming  out  of  a  previous  non-moral 
condition.  No  wonder  the  best  and  ablest  of 
agnostics  should  be  found  lapsing  into  such 
hopeless  self-contradictions  as  these :  *  The 
ethical  process  must  bear  some  sort  of  relation 
to  the  cosmic ' ;  and  yet  he  also  says,  *  The 
ethical  process  bears  no  sort  of  relatiori  to  the 
cosmical  process  ' ;  and  he  is  forced  to  denounce 
what  he  calls  *  the  unfathomable  injustice  of 


74    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

the  nature  of  things.'  ^     No  promise  of  unity  or 
co-ordination  of  the  physical  and  moral  there 
at  any  rate. 

(ii)  But  besides  the  invisible  moral  order  in 
man's  own  nature,  there  is  manifested  to  us 
also  an  invisible  moral  order  above  man. 

We  may  not  forget,  though  we  are  too  apt 
to  overlook,  that  we  are  as  dependent  on  moral 
ordinances  as  on  physical  and  organic  laws.  It 
is  easy  to  demonstrate  that  we  are  living  under 
an  invisible  yet  constantly  operating  retributive 
economy.  That  the  highest  sanctions  of  moral 
law  are  being  constantly  enforced  even  here 
and  now  is  beyond  the  power  of  gainsaying. 

We  still  have  judgment  here.     And  what  we  do  of  ill^ 

Being  done,  returns  to  plague  the  inventor. 

Such  even-handed  justice  still  commends 

The  ingredients  of  our  poison  chalice  to  our  own  lips 

Not  that  every  wickedness  receives  pre-s 
sently  its  full  recompense.  This  is  not 
necessary   to   our   assurance   of   moral   order. 

^  Huxley,  Evolution  of  Ethics,  pp.  8,  12,  23.  The  term 
evolution  may  be  made  to  cover  a  great  variety  of  views.  It 
may  be  simply  a  method  or  process  of  the  working  of  natural 
causes  on  living  organisms^  and  may  be  quite  compatible  with  a 
Theistic  origin  and  government  of  things,  though  not  designedly 
so.  On  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  the  name  for  theories 
expressly  designed  to  get  rid  of  Theism  altogether.  But  in 
either  case  it  msumes  a  something  previously  e.iisting  (Avithout 
necessarily  endeavouring  to  account  for  it)  in  which  the 
evolutionary  process  is  found  operating,  whether  by  '  natural 
selection'  or  any  other  ways. 


MORAL   ORDER  75 

For  penalty  is  not  an  act  only,  but  a  process ; 
and  penal  sanctions  are  vindicated,  though 
final  adjustments  be  postponed.  Civil  order 
is  demonstrated  by  courts  of  law  habitually  at 
work  and  by  trials  habitually  going  on,  even 
while  many  crimes  are  never  brought  to  light 
and  many  criminals  escape  punishment.  But 
entire  impunity  in  wrong  is  a  vain  thought. 
We  reap  as  we  sow.  And  therefore  to  sow 
acts  is  to  reap  habits,  to  sow  habits  is  to  reap 
a  character,  and  to  sow  a  character  is  to  reap  a 
destiny.  And  there  are  no  favoured  people, 
in  the  sense  of  any  being  exempt  from  the 
operations  of  the  Divine  principles  of  moral 
government  and  its  solemn  sanctions.  For 
moral  order  may  be  effectively  at  work  even 
in  the  midst  of  constant  efforts  to  oppose  and 
thwart  it.  Thus,  much  moral  disorder  and 
confusion  may  be  perfectly  compatible  with  a 
constant  and  sleepless  operation  of  moral  order 
quite  unseen  by  many  who  are  subject  to  it, 
though  for  such  wilful  blindness  they  may  be 
without  excuse.  '  For  the  wrath  of  God  is 
revealed  from  heaven  against  all  ungodliness 
and  unrighteousness  of  men,  who  hold  down  the 
truth  in  unrighteousness  ;  because  that  which 
may  be  known  of  God  is  manifest  in  them.'  ^ 

1  Rom.  i.  18,  19. 


76    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

This  is  a  great  factor  in  human  Hfe.  For 
man's  history  is  not  the  mere  sum  of  his  own 
thoughts  and  doings,  any  more  than  a  web  is 
the  sum  of  the  weft  threads  that  shoot  across 
its  range.  There  are  also  the  long  and  slowly 
unwinding  warp  threads  as  well  to  bind  the 
others  together  in  one  compact  whole.  How 
else  could  the  diverse  lines  of  human  activity 
and  of  distant  generations  be  knit  into  one 
orderly  piece  or  pattern  ?  Or  is  this  earth's 
history  to  be  conceived  of  as  one  blind,  pur- 
poseless set  of  unrelated  movements  without 
meaning  or  object?  Credat  Judcmis  Apella! 
Hence  those  great  results  in  human  affairs 
that  never  entered  into  human  calculations  or 
designs  at  all ;  and  hence  from  trivial  doings 
have  come  forth  mighty  issues  never  con- 
templated by  the  original  agents  !  Like  the 
resistless  ground  swell  that  absorbs  and  engulfs 
the  tossing  waves,  what  giant  movements  and 
upheavals  transpire  among  men's  doings  beyond 
their  power  either  to  originate  or  control ! 

And  that  should  teach  us 
There's  a  Divinity  that  shapes  our  ends. 
Rough-hew  them  how  we  will. 

Three  ideas  are  involved  in  the  working  of 
a  Divine  moral  order.  It  is  based  on  law,  it 
operates  through  judicial  processes,  and  it  is 


MORAL   ORDER  77 

enforced  by  executive  authority.  These  three 
functions,  the  legislative,  the  judicial,  and  the 
executive,  are  embodied  in  moral  order  and  in 
every  advanced  form  of  modern  government. 
Law  stands  first,  and  is  the  primary  element  in 
moral  order.  Properly  speaking,  law  is  what 
is  laid  down  by  competent  authority  and  en- 
forced by  penalty  for  non-observance.  '  Law,' 
says  Edmund  Burke,  *  is  beneficence  acting  by 
rule  and  backed  by  authority.'  Or,  as  defined 
by  a  leading  modern  jurist,^  it  is  *  Command 
issued  by  superior  authority  and  enforced  by 
sanction  or  penalty.'  Thus  a  state  of  law  is  a 
state  of  order,  as  distinguished  from  caprice, 
anarchy,  or  confusion.  '  Of  Law,'  says  the 
judicious  Hooker,  '  there  can  be  no  less 
acknowledged  than  that  her  seat  is  in  the 
bosom  of  God :  her  voice  the  harmony  of 
the  world  :  all  things  in  heaven  and  earth  do 
her  homage,  the  very  least,  as  feeling  her  care, 
and  the  greatest,  as  not  exempted  from  her 
power.' - 

Laws  being  thus  the  expression  of  will, 
cannot  enforce  themselves,  but  must  be  carried 
into  execution  by  some  enacting  will.  Law 
is  not  a  self- working  force.  It  becomes  so 
only  when  judicially  applied   and  effectively 

^  John  Austin.  ^  Eccles,  Polity,  Bk.  I. 


78    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

administered.  Law  is  a  method  of  observed 
order,  and  is  a  product  of  what  is  already 
in  being,  and  never  a  self-originating  or  self- 
acting  energy.  Hence  the  statutes  of  a 
nation,  the  bye-laws  of  a  city,  the  regulations 
of  a  family,  when  they  are  in  force,  are 
laws  properly  so  called.  But  often  when 
we  speak  of  laws  of  Nature  we  speak  but 
metaphorically.  For  sometimes  by  laws  of 
Nature  we  mean  the  py^operties  or  qualities 
of  matter,  sometimes  the  relations  of  qualities 
or  elements,  and  sometimes  just  generalized 
facts  as  we  observe  them,  with  no  analogy  to 
laws  proper,  except  the  fixed,  orderly  uni- 
formity which  we  reasonably  expect  and  on 
which  we  feel  we  have  good  cause  to  rely. 

Owing  to  this  diversity  of  meanings,  we  find 
people  assuring  themselves  that  the  laws  of 
Nature  cannot  be  broken — which  is  true  of 
some — and  that,  on  the  other  hand,  they  can 
be  broken — which  is  true  of  others,  where 
laws  have  a  different  signification  or  reference, 
and  where  breaches  of  them  are  followed 
by  suffering,  misfortune,  disease,  and  other 
evils.  But  moral  law  is  the  expression  of  the 
Divine  will  on  its  ethical  side.  This  is  law 
in  a  far  higher  sense  than  other  laws,  such 
as  those  of  astronomy   or  chemistry:   which 


MORAL   ORDER  79 

might  have  been  quite  different  from  what 
they  are,  because  the  physical  world  might 
have  been  made  quite  differently  from  what 
it  is. 

But  moral  law,  as  the  expression  of  the 
Divine  will,  is  the  express  image  of  the 
Divine  character.  And  so  moral  order,  being 
the  order  of  God's  own  nature  and  character,  is 
eternal  and  unchangeable.  This  is  emphatically 
the  law  of  God — the  law  that  governs  Himself, 
and  that  is  applied  in  its  own  measure  to  His 
responsible  creatures.  *  Oh,  how  I  love  Thy 
law  :  it  is  my  meditation  all  the  day.'  Those 
who  know  themselves  to  be  under  it  must 
each  one  devoutly  pray, '  Open  Thou  mine  eyes, 
that  I  may  behold  wondrous  things  out  of  Thy 
law.'  For  this  is  peculiarly  the  personal  law, 
determining  each  one  in  his  personal  duties 
and  relations.  It  is  the  basis  of  what  we  call 
statutes,  judgments,  testimonies,  command- 
ments, and  the  like.  To  see  law  itself,  we  need 
only  a  clear  and  capable  intelligence.  But  to 
see  God  in  law  needs  spiritual  discernment. 
For  this  is  one  of  the  things  of  the  spirit  which 
can  only  be  spiritually  discerned.  Neither 
bodily  nor  intellectual  vision  can  attain  to  it. 
Happily  for  us,  there  is  a  sure  way  to  descry 
that.     '  The  Lord  is  our  judge,  the  Lord  is 


80    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

our  lawgiver,  the  Lord  is  our  King  ;  He  will 
save  us.'  ^ 

(iii)  A  remedial,  restoi^ative  economy  is  at 
work  in  moral  order.  From  the  very  first 
start  of  sin  and  disorder  a  redemptive  economy 
of  grace  began.  A  special  operation  of  Pro- 
vidence was  at  work  to  deliver  man  out  of  his 
estate  of  miserable  anarchy  into  the  peace  and 
liberty  which  he  had  forfeited.  What  mercy 
and  respite  came  into  play  1  Destruction  was 
held  back  and  desolation  stayed  I  How  much 
there  was  ever  to  show  that  if  mankind  sinners 
were  cast  out,  they  were  not  cast  off:  a  race 
fallen,  but  not  abandoned ;  not  forgotten  nor 
forsaken,  if  not  without  offence  and  blame  ; 
commiserated,  though  not  approved. 

But  why  the  presence  of  such  sin  and  misery 
at  all  ?  Under  a  perfectly  strong  and  beneficent 
government,  how  can  such  evil  and  wretched- 
ness be  produced  ?  Why  were  they  not 
prevented  altogether?  Surely  (it  has  been 
argued)  God  would  have  prevented  them  if 
He  could ;  and  if  He  could  not,  where  was 
His  omnipotence  ?  Surely  He  is  not  I^ove, 
or  He  has  not  omnipotence  ?  But  this  is  no 
true  dilemma.  To  he  Love  and  to  have 
omnipotence  is  to  use  words  which  imply  a 

1  Isa.  xxxiii.  22. 


MORAL   ORDER  81 

false  balance,  a  kind  of  contrasted  things  that 
cannot  be  weighed  in  equal  scales.  God  is 
Almighty,  but,  with  all  reverence  be  it  said, 
He  is  not  alinightiness.  Omnipotence  is  an 
attribute  only,  and  invoh- es  no  power  whatever 
of  doing  evil  or  of  working  self-contradictions. 

We  may  not  fall  into  the  elementary  mistake 
of  regarding  either  sin  or  misery  as  directly  in 
any  sense  God's  creation,  or  as  things  done  by 
Him.  Sin  is  a  perversion  and  rebellion  of 
created  will  in  the  misdirection  of  its  own 
power  ;  and  misery  is  no  fruit  of  law  and  order, 
but  entirely  the  reverse.  Like  lawlessness 
and  penalty  under  human  government,  they 
find  a  place  and  are  made  subservient  to  high 
ends  within  the  Divine  plan  of  moral  order. 

For  He  Whom  we  worship  as  the  God  and 
Father  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ 
is  no  far-off  contriver  of  a  world  to  whose  sin 
and  suffering  He  is  indifferent.  He  is  not  a 
mere  neutral  or  aloof  spectator  here.  If  His 
offending  and  dependent  creatures  suffer,  did 
He  shrink  from  sacrifice  and  suffering  on  their 
behalf?  If  those  who  are  relatively  innocent 
are  involved  with  those  who  are  more  guilty, 
was  not  He  Who  became  the  Great  Sufferer  for 
others  wholly  innocent  Himself  ?  If  suffering 
be  ofttimes   a    mystery   of  ijiiquity,   as  when 

6 


82    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

'man's  inhumanity  to  man  makes  countless 
thousands  mourn,'  is  there  not  more  frequent 
and  abiding  evidence  of  a  noble  and  ennobling 
suffering  that  is  altogether  a  mystei^y  of  love  ? 
In  that  alembic,  how  curse  is  transmuted  into 
blessing,  loss  into  gain,  evil  into  good,  and 
sorrow  into  more  abundant  joy  !  Milton  found 
truer  sight  by  very  means  of  blindness. 

My  vision  Thou  hast  dimmed,  that  1  might  see 
Thyself,  Thyself  alone. 

And  over  how  many  a  pitiful  experience  have 
the  words  of  Joseph  to  his  brethren  been 
verified,  '  As  for  you,  ye  meant  evil  against  me, 
but  God  meant  it  unto  good,  to  save  much 
people  alive ' !  Joseph  Addison  illustrates  the 
same  thing  by  his  fine  allegory  of  *  The  Golden 
Scales  ' — the  weight  which  on  the  one  side 
bore  the  inscription,  '  In  the  dialect  of  earth, 
Calamity  I '  bore  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
balance,  '  In  the  dialect  of  heaven,  ''  Blessing 
in  disguise.'' ' 

As  there  is  lodged  in  the  executive  or 
administrative  authority  of  even  human 
government  a  prerogative  of  grace  and  mercy, 
a  mediating  and  restorative  function,  we  may 
much  more  expect  at  the  heart  of  the  Divine 
order  of  things  a  gospel  message  of  hope  and 


'  MORAL   ORDER  85 

assurance  like  this :  '  The  Lord  is  our  King, 
He  will  save  us,'  And  such  a  redemptive 
economy  we  do  find  at  work  within  the 
operations  of  a  gracious  Providence,  and  such 
an  economy  as  *  eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear 
heard,  nor  hath  entered  into  the  heart  of 
man  to  conceive.'  For  in  the  Cross  of  Christ, 
which  w^as  the  very  chmax  of  all  human 
wickedness,  God  hath  found  the  most  effec- 
tive means  of  cancelling  sin  and  for  breaking 
its  power.  The  depths  of  deepest  malice 
serve  but  to  reveal  more  clearly  the  heights 
of  divinest  mercy  and  grace  ;  for  there  *  gi-ace 
reigns  through  righteousness  unto  eternal  life.' 
'  And  so,'  as  an  old  Puritan  says,  '  albeit 
the  actors  in  Christ's  death  wickedly  intended 
nothing  but  to  show  hatred  and  envy,  yet 
God  brought  another  matter  out  of  their 
wickedness.  For  while  He  would  have 
Christ  die,  and  so  would  Caiaphas,  Pilate, 
Judas,  and  the  Jews,  yet  He  for  our 
redemption,  and  they  for  their  own  ends,  as 
Judas  for  covetousness,  the  priests  for  malice, 
and  Pilate  to  please  the  people  who  were 
inflamed  at  Jesus  not  fulfilling  their  political 
hopes.'  And  what  wonderful  adaptations  to 
so  many  and  such  diverse  ends  we  descry 
in   that    Cross   of   Christ!      Like   the   atmo- 


84    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

sphere  which  serves  a  thousand  different  pur- 
poses— forming  a  soft  elastic  cushion  to 
protect  the  earth  as  it  rushes  through  space 
at  eleven  hundred  miles  a  minute,  and,  while 
ministering  alike  to  the  lungs  of  man  and 
beast  and  to  the  requirements  of  vegetable 
life,  is  at  once  a  highway  for  cloud  and  breeze, 
for  rain  and  electric  flow,  and  a  vehicle  of 
light  and  heat,  of  sound  and  colour — yet  not 
less  but  more  varied  are  the  objects  gained 
by  God's  economy  of  grace  and  redemption, 
working  through  righteousness  unto  eternal 
life! 

Here  is  something  to  cast  down  the  pride 
of  man,  yet  lift  him  up  out  of  the  depths  of 
despondency  and  despair  !  Something  to  bring 
home  to  him  how  badly  he  has  deserved  at 
the  hand  of  God,  yet  to  inspire  him  with  fresh 
love,  and  hope,  and  trust  in  Him !  Here  a 
moral  order  is  maintained  and  honoured, 
while  yet  our  eyes  are  opened,  our  conscience 
pacifled,  our  will  renewed,  our  heart  satisfied, 
and  our  nature  restored.  Above  all,  God  is 
therein  held  forth  in  His  true  light  as  both 
'  a  just  God  and  a  Saviour,  faithful  and  just 
in  forgiving  sin,  and  in  cleansing  us  from  all 
unrighteousness. ' 


CHAPTER  IV 

RELIGIOUS  ORDER  ;    OR,  SPIRITUAL  FAITH 
AND  THE  INVISIBLE 


He  fought  liis  doubts^  and  gathered  strength. 
He  would  not  make  his  judgment  blind, 
He  faced  the  spectres  of  the  mind. 

And  laid  them  :  thus  he  came  at  length 
To  find  a  stronger  faith  his  own. 

Tennyson. 

Faith  and  Unfaith  can  ne'er  be  equal  powers. 

Jesus  saith   unto  him,  Thomas,  because  thou  hast  seen  Me, 
thou  hast  believed. — John  xx.  29. 


CHAPTER   IV 

RELIGIOUS    ORDER  ;     OR,    SPIRITUAL   FAITH 
AND   THE    INVISIBLE 

(i)  To  illustrate  the  working  of  Christian  faith 
in  the  realm  of  the  invisible,  and  the  bearing 
of  this  upon  the  spiritual  order  of  things,  we 
take  the  case  of  Thomas,  the  doubting  disciple, 
both  as  a  caution  and  as  an  example. 

The  name  Thomas  or  Didymus  (that  is. 
Twin)  is  a  fine  symbol  for  the  character  of  the 
man  Thomas. 

If  we  read  his  idiosyncrasy  aright,  there  was 
in  him  a  special  sort  of  twin-nature :  both  a 
masculine  and  a  feminine  element ;  a  keen 
intellect  combined  with  a  tender  and  delicate 
susceptibility,  not  often  found  together,  save  in 
exceptionally  gifted  souls.  For  Thomas  was 
not  a  hard  and  cold  being,  like  many  in  whom 
the  critical  faculty  predominates.  There  are 
those  in  whom  emotion  is  stronger  than  their 
understanding,  who  are  led  by  feeling  more 

87 


88    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

than  by  thinking,  and  simple  even  to  credulity — 
ready  to  believe  to  the  verge  of  superstition  ;  on 
the  other  hand,  there  are  some  whose  reflective 
powers  are  much  greater  than  their  emotional 
nature,  and  who  are  apt  to  be  somewhat  apa- 
thetic therefore,  or  aloof  in  their  attachments. 
To  neither  of  these  classes  does  Thomas  belong, 
or  rather  he  combines  both  of  them  in  himself 
in  rare  and  unusual  proportions. 

For  some  are  endowed  with  a  mental  con- 
stitution so  peculiar  that  they  are  impelled  by 
an  uneasy,  inquisitive  intellect  to  search  into 
any  subject  that  presents  itself,  and  they  can 
show  no  enthusiasm  or  warmth  of  feeling  till 
this  impulse  be  satisfied,  but  being  satisfied 
there  follows  a  perfect  glow  of  warm  emotion 
and  fervid  enthusiasm.  Thomas  was  of  this 
kind.  What  a  mistake  to  think  or  speak  of 
him  as  but 

A  smooth-rubbed  soul  to  which  could  cling 
No  form  of  feeliiig_,  great  or  small  : 

A  reasonings  self-sufficing  thing, 
All  intellectual  all-in-all. 

This  were  wholly  to  misunderstand  him.  For 
if,  when  Jesus  said, '  Whither  I  go  ye  know,  and 
the  way  ye  know,'  Thomas,  with  his  rigorous 
logic,  replies,  *  We  know  not  whither  Thou 
goest,  and  how  can  we  know  the  way  ? '  we 


RELIGIOUS   ORDER  89 

ought  also  to  remember  that  when  the  disciples 
were  dissuading  Jesus  from  venturing  to  Jeru- 
salem, saying,  '  The  Jews  of  late  have  sought 
to  stone  Thee,  and  goest  Thou  thither  again  ? ' 
it  was  Thomas  who,  under  intense  feeling, 
broke  forth  in  terms  of  the  most  passionate 
devotion,  '  Let  us  go  with  Him,  that  we  may- 
die  with  Him.' 

Antecedently  we  might  have  supposed  that 
this  was  the  utterance  of  the  impetuous  Peter. 
But  no  :  it  is  that  of  the  critically  disposed,  but 
now  convinced  and  fervid  Thomas,  who  could 
glow  like  Peter  with  the  most  ardent  and  leal- 
hearted  attachment  to  the  INI  aster.  So,  too, 
it  was  the  dubious,  questioning  Thomas  who 
had  said,  *  Except  I  see  in  His  hands  the  print 
of  the  nails,  and  put  my  finger  into  the  print 
of  the  nails,  and  thrust  my  hand  into  His  side, 
I  will  not  believe  ; '  he  it  was  who  rose  at  one 
bound  into  the  most  exaltedly  spiritual,  ador- 
ingly trustful,  and  personally  confessing  and 
appropriating  faith — 'JNIy  Lord  and  my  God  !' 
What  eyesight,  or  which  of  his  senses,  or  all 
of  them  together,  could  have  taught  him  that, 
or  raised  him  to  such  a  pitch  of  elevated 
thought  and  emotion  ? 

Thomas  is  usually  and  fitly  enough  called 
the  incredulous  or  doubting  disciple.     When 


90    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

exultantly  told  by  his  fellow  disciples  that 
Jesus  was  risen  from  the  dead,  and  that  they 
had  seen  Him,  he  had,  in  a  moody  and  morbid, 
perhaps  also  an  irritated  and  piqued  state  of 
feeling,  testily  affirmed  his  disbelief  until  he 
could  have  the  direct  evidence  of  his  senses. 
In  this  respect  he  is  a  warning  and  a  caution 
to  all  doubters  ;  but  in  recoiling  as  he  did 
from  this  untenable  position  as  soon  as  he 
saw  it  was  untenable,  he  is  a  brilliant  example 
of  the  way  of  faith. 

(ii)  The  doubting  disciple  is  a  caution  cmd  a 
warning.  His  position  was  this :  No  testi- 
mony will  satisfy  him  except  the  evidence  of 
his  own  senses.  His  two  eyes  will  be  of  more 
worth  than  the  iterated  and  doubly  iterated 
testimony  of  others  whom  he  could  otherwise 
most  heartily  trust.  His  own  ten  fingers  he 
can  more  rely  on  than  on  all  the  witness- 
bearing  of  his  ten  fellow  apostles,  whom 
nevertheless  he  did  not  imagine  willing  to 
deceive. 

We  can  do  honour  to  this  spirit  of  inde- 
pendence ;  and  we  shall  see  presently  the 
value  of  his  doubting,  to  which  Jesus  Himself 
pays  no  small  respect.  But  Thomas  is  none 
the  less  the  victim  of  a  fallacy,  or  subtle 
sophistry,  by  which  so   many  are  oftentimes 


RELIGIOUS   ORDER  91 

deluded,  and  which  Jesus  here  takes  occasion 
to  expose.  The  sophistry  is  that  sight  and 
sense  are  the  surest  guarantees  of  knowledge, 
and  that  a  measure  of  suspicion  rightly  attaches 
to  all  evidence  save  that  of  the  senses.  How 
gross  the  assumption,  and  yet  how  many 
acute  but  suspicious  minds  fall  under  its 
delusive  spell  I  The  evidence  of  sight  is  no 
doubt  the  most  impressive  of  all  evidences, 
and  much  of  our  primary  knowledge  comes 
originally  through  that  channel.  But  im- 
pressive and  certain  are  not  synonymous  terms. 
Evidence  of  our  eyesight  is  irresistible,  and, 
as  people  say,  *  Seeing  is  believing.'  But  is 
that  form  or  ground  of  belief  always  the 
safest  ?     And  is  the  result  always  the  truest  ? 

No  doubt  it  is  always  easier  to  trust  our 
eyesight ;  but,  like  all  the  senses,  it  needs 
correctives.  The  eye  itself  would  have  us 
believe  that  the  heavenly  bodies  are  but  lamps 
of  various  sizes  hung  up  in  the  azure  vault 
of  heaven.  And  in  a  solar  eclipse  the  moon 
seems  to  pass  just  immediately  in  front  of 
the  sun,  which  is,  however,  scores  of  millions 
of  miles  farther  away.  What  a  tremendous 
struggle  had  to  go  on  with  sight  and  sense 
before  the  Copernican  system  could  supplant 
the  Ptolemaic  1      It  gained  its  triumph  by  a 


92    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

set  of  reasoned  evidences  apart  from  the  sight 
and  sense  altogether.  Not  that  our  senses 
do  themselves  deceive  us.  It  is  our  misreading 
of  their  testimony,  and  the  mistaken  con- 
clusions we  are  apt  to  draw.  One  sense  is 
needed  to  correct  the  other,  and  all  of  them 
together  need  the  adjusting  care  of  other 
evidence  that  may  be  as  sure  at  least  as  that 
of  the  senses,  if  not  so  immediate,  vivid,  or 
irresistible. 

Is  nothing  to  be  held  sufficiently  sure  and 
proved  till  it  can  be  submitted  actually  to 
the  senses  ?  Must  a  man  be  more  certain 
he  has  a  hand  which  he  sees  than  a  brain 
which  he  cannot,  or  at  least  never  does  see  ? 
Are  we  not  to  believe  in  sounds  or  smells 
till  they  become  visible?  Are  not  the 
mightiest  forces  and  processes  of  even  the 
material  universe  just  those  that  elude  all  tests 
of  outward  sight  and  observation  ?  The  dark 
rays  of  the  solar  spectrum,  though  known  to  be 
charged  with  intense  chemical  potencies,  are 
wholly  invisible.  The  mysterious  X-rays  and 
the  most  fatal  microbes  yield  nothing  to  the 
gazing  eye,  however  fortified  by  microscopic 
helps.  The  diatoms  both  of  diseases  and 
therapeutics  contain  secrets  that  belong  wholly 
to  the  invisible.      Are  not  the   most  potent 


RELIGIOUS   ORDER  93 

forces  and  ideas  that  stir  nations  to  their 
depths  among  the  most  invisible  of  influences, 
that  can  only  be  discerned  in  their  issues  and 
results  ? 

But  because  sight  affords  the  most  vivid 
and  impressive  evidence,  it  is  natural  for  us 
to  crave  for  it,  and  to  fall  back  upon  it 
whenever  it  can  be  had.  This,  however,  is 
very  different  from  Thomas's  hasty  and  ill- 
advised  resolution — that  he  will  accept  no 
other  evidence  as  sufficient  or  satisfactory. 
We  are  all  entitled  to  say  we  will  not  believe 
anything  without  suitable  and  adequate 
evidence ;  but  none  may,  without  greatest 
presumption,  insist  on  or  stipulate  for  some 
particular  kind  of  proof,  and  declare  that  they 
will  attend  to  no  other.  This  is  a  spirit  to 
be  in  the  highest  degree  reprobated,  as  both 
false  in  itself  and  extremely  dangerous.  It 
would  be  a  death-blow  to  ordinary  juris- 
prudence, and  to  many  of  the  common 
principles  and  maxims  on  which  all  men  find 
it  safe  to  act.  It  would  justify  a  juryman 
in  declining  to  convict  a  man  of  theft  or  other 
crime  because  he  had  not  himself  seen  him 
commit  the  act.  It  were  to  play  fast  and 
loose  with  truth  and  reality,  to  refuse  to  look 
at   the   evidence   there   is,   because   it  is  not 


94    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

the  kind  we  desire,  nor  the  easiest  for  our- 
selves to  consider.  To  so  mistaken  and 
mischievous  a  notion  Jesus  here  shows  no 
quarter. 

But  there  is  something  better  about  Thomas 
to  which  Jesus  pays  respect,  apart  from  this 
intellectual  but  pardonable  lapse  of  his. 
Whether  Thomas  fell  into  it  from  wounded 
vanity,  because  others  had  been  privileged 
with  a  sight  of  the  risen  Master  and  he  had 
not ;  or  whether  it  proceeded  from  the 
suspicious,  over-cautious,  and  brooding  spirit 
of  the  man,  or  however  else  it  arose,  we  have 
not  sufficient  means  of  determining.  To  all 
appearance  the  doubting  of  Thomas  was  the 
almost  inevitable  hesitation  of  a  constitutionally 
cautious  and  exact  mind.  There  is,  of  course, 
a  doubting  which  springs  from  wilful  disregard 
and  disobedience  to  conscience  or  a  sense  of 
known  and  felt  duty.  And  then,  as  the  Chinese 
proverb  has  it,  *  Heaveris  light  cannot  shine  into 
an  inverted  howL'  There  is,  however,  enough 
to  show  that  Thomas's  faith  was  right  and 
sound,  and  his  whole  attitude  safe  and  satis- 
factory from  a  moral  point  of  view,  however 
mistaken  he  was  in  his  intellectual  notion. 
Not  without  blame  for  his  hasty  and  ill-advised 
position,  and  subjected  to  mild  but  effective 


RELIGIOUS   ORDER  95 

rebuke  for  entertaining  so  false  an  idea,  he  yet 
received  the  proffer  of  the  favour  he  coveted, 
and  of  which  he  made  such  noble  use.  '  Reach 
hither  thy  finger,  and  behold  My  hands,  reach 
hither  thy  hand,  and  thrust  it  into  My  side,  and 
be  not  faithless,  but  believing.' 

(iii)  The  doubting  disciple  is  cm  example 
or  illustration  of  the  way  of  faith.  For 
there  was  in  Thomas  a  loftier  reach  than  that 
of  intellectual  notionalism.  He  had  the  dis- 
position to  walk  humbly  by  faith,  and  not 
merely  by  sight.  He  knew  he  had  within 
himself  some  proclivity  higher  than  either 
animal  instincts  or  than  mere  intellectual  or 
speculative  inquisitiveness.  And  '  he  followed 
the  gleam'  faithfully.  He  cherished  in  his 
soul  a  high  and  true  principle,  which  Jesus 
delighted  to  recognize  and  commend,  to  which 
He  pays  regard  and  makes  fitting  appeal. 
Blameworthy  though  he  were,  his  was  a  kind 
of  doubt  which  at  once  rebukes  the  uncon- 
scionable dogmatist  and  the  no  less  uncon- 
scionable indifFerentist.  He  was  faithful  not 
only  to  his  rational  convictions,  not  only  to 
his  reason,  but  to  his  conscience.  His  doubt 
did  not  spring  either  from  moral  faithlessness, 
or  from  graceless,  proud,  or  captious  intellect- 
ualism,  as  in  so  many  cases  of  so-called  doubt 


96    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

which  finds  its  origin  in  one  or  other,  sometimes 
in  both,  of  these  evil  sources. 

Real  doubt  is  neither  the  opposite  of  belief 
nor  of  unbelief,  but  rather  a  mixture  of  both. 
What  we  think  worthy  of  credence  we  believe, 
and  what  we  think  unworthy  of  credence  we 
disbelieve,  and  what  we  think  neither  one  nor 
the  other  we  doubt.  The  line  between  belief 
and  disbelief  is,  therefore,  like  a  mathematical 
line — length  without  breadth ;  so  that  doubt 
has  no  standing  ground  of  its  own.  It  has 
to  keep  hovering  on  either  side  of  the  dividing 
line  between  belief  and  unbelief,  sometimes 
more  on  this  side,  sometimes  more  on  that. 
Real  doubt  is  always,  and  must  always,  there- 
fore, be  an  anxious  and  painful  state  of  mind, 
especially  wherever  important  issues  are  realized 
as  being  at  stake.  For  it  is  a  condition  of 
mental  suspense — an  unhappy  and  uncomfort- 
able state  from  which  every  sincere  and  honest 
doubter  will  seek,  must  seek,  speedy  relief. 

A  state  of  religious  or  other  professed  doubt 
may,  of  course,  be  insincere  and  little  different 
from  veiled  unbelief — a  veritable  cloak  for 
undevout  scepticism.  That  Thomas's  doubts 
were  of  an  altogether  opposite  cast  is  manifest 
from  his  whole  spirit  and  conduct.  His  higher 
conscience — his  religious  conscience — his  con- 


RELIGIOUS   ORDER  97 

science  toward  God,  controlled  and  guided  his 
whole  behaviour,  and  so  what  was  mistaken 
or  misleading  in  his  intellectual  notion  was 
kept  in  proper  check.  Nothing  is  more  mis- 
leading than  a  guileful  pride  of  intellect,  though 
an  independent  mind  is  very  different  from  a 
boastful  and  self-sufficient  temper. 

His  doubts  did  not  lead  him,  nor  would 
they  have  warrantably  allowed  him,  to  cast 
off  the  restraints  or  the  duties  of  religion. 
Whatever  may  have  caused  his  absence  from 
the  first  religious  gathering  of  his  brethren, 
he  was  present  on  the  second  occasion. 
'After  eight  days,  again  His  disciples  were 
within,  and  Thomas  with  them.'  Real  doubt 
is  not  cool  neutrality,  nor  careless  indifference. 
It  is  a  man's  conscience,  not  his  doubts, 
however  conscientious,  that  should  ever  control 
or  dictate  to  his  determinations.  Anxious  for 
light,  and  keenly  solicitous  for  the  real  truth, 
Thomas  haunts  the  sphere  where  he  thinks 
it  most  likely  to  be  found,  and  does  not  cut 
himself  off  from  godly  fellowship  or  the 
exercises  of  devotion. 

Blame  the  apostle  as  we  may,  he  cannot 
be  charged  with  guileful  aversion  either  to  the 
truth,  or  to  any  discipline  of  holiness  that 
might   bring   him   evidence.     It  is  wholly  to 

7 


98    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

his  credit  that  his  doubt  is  his  burden,  as  all 
serious  and  honest  doubt  must  be.  His  spirit 
is  serious,  not  frivolous  ;  ingenuous,  not  cap- 
tious. And  what  a  sense  of  grave  responsibility 
his  whole  behaviour  breathes  ! 

So  his  doubting  rebukes  two  evils  that 
have  so  often  afflicted  and  done  inconceivable 
damage  to  the  Church  :  easy-going  and  un- 
worthy credulity  on  the  one  hand,  and  no  less 
easy-going  and  mischievously  pretended  or 
conventional  profession  of  faith  without  the 
reality  on  the  other. 

How  deadly,  how  spiritually  deadening  are 
they  both  I  As  to  the  former,  what  corrup- 
tions have  been  bred  from  a  disposition  to 
be  credulous  or  too  facile  in  acceding  to  what 
in  religious  matters  may  be  imposed  by  ex- 
ternal authority,  or  that  some  current  yet  false 
fashion  may  dictate,  without  the  trouble  of 
personal  inquiry.  We  may  be  too  free  of 
faith,  too  ready  to  yield  to  human  authority 
in  religion,  rather  than  obey  the  Divine  voice, 
and  attend  to  the  Cor  Dei  in  verba  Dei.  It 
is  this  faithlessness  to  the  things  of  faith  that 
has  often  proved  little  less  injurious  than 
unbelief  itself,  and  that  has  led  to  the  over- 
loading of  primitive  Christianity  with  corrupt 
traditions,   superstitious  observances,  and  un- 


RELIGIOUS   ORDER  99 

warrantable  dogmas  that  have  sunk  large 
sections  of  the  Church  into  pagan  usages  or 
degrading  apostasies. 

Jesus  is  no  patron  of  any  blind  or  unintelli- 
gent faith.  He  ever  respects  the  laws  of 
evidence,  knowing  how  an  ill-grounded  faith 
breeds  rationalistic  reaction  that  issues  in  no 
faith  at  all.  On  tlie  other  hand,  a  mere 
pretending  to  believe,  or  a  mere  outward 
compliance  with  a  prevailing  profession  of 
faith,  which  is  not  of  conviction  at  all,  how 
deadening  the  influence  of  such  insincerity  ! 
Had  there  been  more  of  ingenuous  doubting, 
like  Thomas's,  how  much  more  free  the  Church 
would  have  been  of  hypocrisy  and  barrenness  I 
Not  that  this  would  result  from  mere  doubt, 
but  only  from  the  working  of  a  Thomas-like 
spirit.  Though  operating  as  a  safeguard  against 
deception  or  mistake,  a  mere  spirit  of  doubting 
may  of  itself  be  as  baleful  in  its  influence  as  it 
is  unhappy  in  the  experience. 

Like  the  whetstone  that  wears  the  blade  it 
sharpens,  doubt  is  apt  to  exhaust  faith  in 
giving  it  edge  ;  or,  like  rust  on  a  lancet,  it 
may  introduce  an  irritating  virus  into  the  sore 
which  it  opens,  and  so  may  as  easily  inflame 
as  heal.  If  we  may  not  denounce  it,  we  may 
not  glorify  it.    To  be  submitted  to  rather  than 


100    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

honoured  ;  to  be  got  rid  of  rather  than  praised 
or  cherished,  it  is  at  best  a  painful  medicine, 
whose  remedial  power  depends  on  the  Thomas- 
like spirit  and  disposition  in  which  it  is  used 
and  turned  to  sanctified  account.  One  evil 
with  many  is  that,  while  nominally  believing, 
they  cannot  be  got  to  think,  and  brought  the 
length  of  even  honest  and  ingenuous  doubting. 
Otherwise  they  might  attain  to  a  well-grounded 
faith,  and  acquire  for  themselves  the  high 
encomium :  *  Thomas,  thou  hast  believed.' 
True,  the  doubting  disciple  stood  reproved 
and  rebuked :  '  Thomas,  because  thou  hast 
seen  Me  thou  hast  believed.'  Yet  he  revealed 
that  blessed  faith  which  at  once  pierced  down 
to  the  bedrock  of  reality  and  soared  up  into 
the  highest  heaven  of  conviction — not  mere 
conviction  of  a  fact,  momentous  as  Christ's 
resurrection  w^as,  but  direct,  adoring,  and 
dauntless  trust  in  a  Person. 

This  believing  in  Jesus  is  not  a  mere  be- 
lieving that  He  is,  but  that  He  is  what  He  holds 
Himself  out  to  be,  or  what  He  declares  Himself 
that  He  is.  This  is  the  faith  that  cannot  come 
through  the  avenue  of  the  senses,  but  is 
grounded  on  other  evidence  altogether,  for 
seeing  Jesus  was  not  believing  on  Him ;  a 
faith  that  grasps  what  in  Him  can  never  be 


RELIGIOUS    ORDER  101 

outwardly  seen,  and  derives  from  Him  what 
far  transcends  any  reach  of  bodily  vision.  It 
is  not  by  just  seeing  a  man  we  believe  in  him. 
The  grossest  insult  to  any  man  is,  while 
looking  at  him,  to  say,  '  I  do  not  believe  in 
you  ;  I  have  not  faith  in  you  ;  I  do  not  trust 
you.'  By  other  evidence  than  sight  is  such 
faith  or  believing  to  be  attained,  and  by  far 
other  considerations  must  it  be  reached. 

Thrice  blessed  is  this  faith  of  Didymus— a 
blessedness  that  is  not  the  reward  of  lofty 
intellect,  but  of  a  good  conscience  and  a 
humble  heart.  How  much  knowledge  and 
certainty  may  be  reached  as  the  reward  of 
sterling  integrity  I  Such  realities  are  often 
'  hidden  from  the  wise  and  prudent,  and  re- 
vealed unto  babes  ! '  For,  after  all,  it  is  '  with 
the  heart  man  belie veth  unto  righteousness.' 
Motive  and  disposition  count  for  something 
here,  and  not  mere  logic  or  learning  or  elabo- 
rated argument.  For  it  is  '  out  of  the  heai^t ' 
that  there  are  '  the  issues  of  life.' 


PART  II 
CHRIST    INVISIBLE    OUR   GAIN 

CHAPTER  I 
GAIN  IN  TRAINING  THE  FIRST  DISCIPLES 


The  further  limits  of  our  being,  it  seems  to  me,  plunge  into 
altogether  other  dimensions  of  existence  than  that  of  the  outer 
world  .  .  .  name  it  the  mystical  or  supernatural  or  what  you 
please.  But  we  belong  to  it  in  a  more  intimate  sense  than  we  do 
to  the  visible  world. — Prop.  William  James. 

Yet  a  little  while,  and  the  world  seeth  Me  no  more  ;  but  ye 
see  Me.  ...  Ye  have  heard  how  I  said  unto  yon,  I  go  away,  and 
come  again  unto  you.  .  .  .  Nevertheless  I  tell  you  the  truth  ; 
II  is  expedient  for  you  that  I  go  away. — John  xiv.  19,  28  ;  xvi.  7. 


CHAPTER   1 
GAIN    IN    TRAINING    THE    FIRST    DISCIPLES 

(i)  The  Lord  Jesus  is  abmd  to  leave  His 
disciples.  The  hour  of  sad  and  solemn  fare- 
well is  come,  with  its  disruption  of  old  ties, 
snapping  asunder  of  tender  cords,  and  parting 
of  the  former  endeared  fellowship.  They 
had  now  to  leave  behind  them  the  gentle 
clinging  of  the  outward  human  attitude  toward 
their  INI  aster,  and  had  to  adopt  the  more 
robust  attitude  of  a  self-sustaining  spiritual 
faith.  A  crisis  was  at  hand,  and  great 
changes  were  impending.  They  had  reached 
a  new  and  important  stage  in  their  religious 
development,  midway  between  childhood  and 
full-grown  manhood.  Hitherto  they  had  been 
little  more  than  babes  in  Christ ;  now  they 
must  be  still  further  weaned  from  much 
wherein  they  had  been  but  too  willing  to  rest. 
The  time  for  a  more  spiritual  upheaval,  a 
more   invigorating   struggle,  had   now   come, 

105 


106    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

and,  as  usual,  it  was  to  come  by  way  of  trial 
and  privation.  As  when  *the  eagle  stirreth 
up  her  nest,  fluttereth  over  her  young, 
spreadeth  abroad  her  wings,  taketh  and 
beareth  them  on  her  wings,'  so  their  Lord 
and  Master  is  about  to  subject  His  loved 
disciples  to  a  new  process  of  discipline  and 
training. 

However  much  they  shrank  from  it,  the 
ordeal  was  to  prove  to  them  more  than  a 
blessing  in  disguise.  Like  the  breaking  up 
of  a  happy  home,  this  outward  leaving  of 
them  on  the  part  of  their  Master  was  to 
be  attended  by  most  glorious  results,  and 
they  were  to  find  in  it,  singularly  enough, 
the  most  divinely  suitable  adaptations  to 
their  circumstances  and  needs.  They  should 
in  due  time  learn  even  to  rejoice  and  glory 
in  it,  as  something,  however  hard,  yet  to  be 
attended  with  greatest  spiritual  gain. 

Their  Master's  going  away  was  to  exert  a 
remarkably  fresh  and  beneficial  effect  on  their 
whole  higher  nature,  and  lead  to  a  wonder- 
ful heightening,  deepening,  broadening,  and 
general  enlargement  of  their  whole  religious 
being  and  experience.  It  would  brace  up 
the  fibre  of  their  mental,  moral,  and  spiritual 
character ;  and  by  making  outward  sight  give 


GAIN  IN  TRAINING  DISCIPLES     107 

way  to  inward  vision,  it  would  remove  some 
of  the  scales  and  film  from  their  spiritual  eye 
and  furnish  them  with  a  larger  outlook  by 
means  of  that  method  of  highest  knowledge 
which  we  call  faith.  The  world  has  never 
yet  done  full  justice  to  the  value  of  faith 
as  a  method  and  instrument  of  true  knowledge 
— the  knowledge,  that  is  to  say,  of  abiding 
and  eternal  realities  as  distinct  from  the 
merely  outward,  the  phenomenal,  the  tran- 
sient, and  superficial. 

(ii)  The  change  in  these  disciples  in  the 
space  of  but  a  few  brief  weeks  ivas  something 
marvellous,  and  quite  preternatural.  They 
could  hardly  be  identified  as  the  same  men. 
Not  that  the  mere  privation  of  their  Master's 
bodily  presence,  nor  that  the  mere  sense  of 
His  disappearance  from  their  midst  was  the 
cause  of  such  a  change  in  them.  The  cause 
lay  far  deeper,  but  the  privation  afforded 
occasion  for  the  startlingly  sudden  develop- 
ment of  their  spiritual  stature. 

Coincident  with  their  JNIaster's  disappear- 
ance and  with  the  wrench  that  went  to  the 
very  roots  of  their  being,  a  rapid  process 
was  going  forward  which  drove  them  away 
down  into  deeper  soil  than  that  of  the  earthly 
and  visible      This  duly  developed  in  them  a 


108    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

surprisingly  new  growth  of  experience,  accom- 
panied by  a  fresh  access  of  stabihty  and 
maturity  to  their  spiritual  manhood.  Not 
that  they  could  yet  understand  or  acquiesce 
in  the  need  of  their  Master's  withdrawal 
either  temporarily  or  permanently.  Not  till 
they  have  passed  beyond  the  chill  shadows 
of  the  cross  and  the  sepulchre,  not  till  they 
stand  in  the  sunshine  of  the  resurrection  and 
ascension,  not  till  they  come  to  their  new 
Pentecostal  experiences,  shall  they  be  able 
to  see,  and  know,  and  feel,  and  allow  that 
the  sunset  of  His  bodily  withdrawal,  far  from 
what  they  once  dreaded  it  might  be,  a  final 
eclipse  of  His  presence,  should  but  herald 
the  sunrise  of  brighter  and  more  assured 
evidence  of  His  actually  being  in  them  and 
with  them  of  a  truth,  and  to  an  extent  far 
beyond  what  they  had  ever  previously  conceived, 
(iii)  Meanwhile  they  are  cast  into  a  state 
of  great  perpleocity  and  trouble.  They  had 
paid  little  heed  to  the  previously  often  re- 
peated intimations  of  His  departure  from 
them.  And,  whatever  may  have  been  their 
surmises  about  His  *  going  to  the  Father,' 
this  last  affecting  interview  did  much  to 
dissipate  their  former  fondly  cherished  day- 
dreams  of  a   great   outward   triumph,   or   of 


GAIN  IN  TRAINING  DISCIPLES    109 

their  own  sitting  in  grandeur  upon  great 
worldly  thrones.  These  notions  were  fading 
into  mist  and  nothingness.  They  saw  a 
horror  of  great  darkness  descend  upon  their 
Master  and  enwrap  even  His  spirit  in 
its  dismal  folds.  And  though  He  spake 
with  calm  assurance  of  a  joy  and  a  glory 
beyond,  they  were  appalled  at  the  sight  of 
His  beginning  to  wrestle  and  agonize  with  a 
mysterious  woe  that  darkens  and  clouds  His 
own  mind,  and  fills  theirs  with  fear  and 
foreboding. 

(iv)   Two  things  soothe  and  solace  them. 

First,  His  manifest  and  extreme  solicitude 
for  their  highest  good  and  their  best  in- 
terests. The  tenderness  of  His  tone  lightens 
their  trouble  and  helps  to  assuage  their  grief 
and  fear.  How  wonderful  His  fortitude, 
how  reassuring  His  calm,  dignified,  majestic 
superiority  to  what  is  so  painfully  exercising 
His  own  spirit  I  He  forgets  Himself  in 
them.  As  if  they  were  the  chief  or  only 
sufferers,  He  engrosses  Himself  with  their 
troubles  and  their  anxieties,  striving  to 
disarm  their  fears  and  soothe  their  sorrows 
with  His  own  wise  and  self-forgetting  com- 
passion. Again,  it  was  comforting  to  have 
His  sacred  and  solemnly  reiterated  assurance 


110    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

that  it  was  Jo7^  their  sakes  He  was  going 
away,  and  that  His  departure  would  in 
many  ways  e^entuate  in  untold  advantage 
to  themselves.  Though  they  were  in  no 
mood  to  appreciate  this  at  present,  it  was  a 
great  thing  to  have  His  solemn  assurance 
that  it  would  be  so.  He  had  never  deceived 
them,  and  He  had  never  been  Himself  de- 
ceived or  mistaken.  Now  He  gi\  es  them  this 
assurance  on  oath  as  it  were.  '  Nevertheless, 
I  tell  you  the  truth  ;  It  is  expedient  for  you 
that  I  go  away.'  For  no  pleasure  to  Himself^ 
but  for  profit  for  them  I  What  an  appeasing 
consideration  I  True,  they  cannot  yet  under- 
stand how  such  a  loss  was  to  turn  out  a 
gain.  But  they  can  readily  believe  it,  or  at 
least  wish  to  do  so.  They  have  His  word 
for  it,  and  on  that  they  can  implicitly  rely, 
even  when  they  are  aware  they  cannot  fully 
grasp  its  meaning,  lloi^  the  good  was  to 
come  they  can,  as  yet,  by  no  means  imagine, 
but  that  it  was  to  be  they  could  in  some  dim 
measure  believe. 

He  had  been  leading  them  to  associate  His 
disappearance  with  a  great  and  notable  boon 
He  could  not  otherwise  secure  for  them,  and 
they  could  not  otherwise  profit  by  and  enjoy. 
This  is  the  second  great  alleviating  considera- 


GAIN  IN  TRAINING  DISCIPLES    111 

tion  that  should  afford  comfort  and  support  to 
their  depressed  hearts.  '  If  I  go  not  away,  the 
Comforter  will  not  come ;  but  if  I  go  away,  I 
will  send  Him  unto  you.'  Doubtless.  But  is 
not  this  very  explanation  a  dark  enigma  to 
their  unenlightened  minds  ?  They  are  yet  ig- 
norant of  the  matchless  need  and  preciousness 
of  His  promised  gift  of  the  Paraclete,  to  whose 
coming  the  Master  attaches  such  supreme 
importance.  It  is  like  some  words  from  a 
comparatively  unknown  tongue.  They  can 
spell  them  out  and  even  pronounce  them.  But 
their  meaning  and  weighty  significance  they 
cannot  grasp,  till  some  one  translates  and 
interprets  them.  '  Ye  cannot  bear  them  now.' 
The  Holy  Ghost  will  teach  you  them  Himself 
And  what  an  assurance  it  is  that,  even  apart 
from  this  more  immediate,  direct,  and  spiritual 
instruction,  Christ's  very  invisibleness  will  help 
them  to  hiow  Plim  better  than  they  did  now  : 
to  get  nearer  to  Him,  so  as  to  possess  Him  more 
fully  and  be  possessed  by  Him  :  and  also  to  do 
Him  much  higher  and  more  valuable  service. 

(v)  Their  gain :  (a)  Christ's  invisibleness 
would  help  them  to  kiiow  Him  better  both  in  His 
personality  and  in  His  t?iie  position.  Hitherto 
they  had  recognized  Him  as  their  national  and 
promised  Messiah,  and  this  seems  the  highest 


112    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

conception  to  which  they  had  attained.  They 
clung  to  Him  as  their  best  and  dearest  friend, 
their  help  and  hope,  their  teacher  sent  from 
God,  divinely  qualified,  equipped,  and  approved 
by  signs  and  wonders  and  heavenly  miracles. 
But  they  had  yet  to  learn  to  bring  Him  into 
the  sphere  of  their  worship,  and  to  know  that 
His  personality  must  be  made  to  mingle  with  all 
their  religious  thoughts,  feelings,  and  exercises, 
and  be  the  chief  object  and  medium  of  their 
adoring  homage,  of  their  spiritual  faith  and 
hope  and  love —the  one  point  of  union  between 
the  nature  of  God  and  the  nature  of  man  ;  the 
meeting-place  of  finite  and  infinite,  the  Divine 
and  human  ;  the  shrine  of  the  eternal  in  asso- 
ciation with  mortal  clay ;  the  Godhead  being 
connected  with  and  standing  forth  revealed 
under  human  conditions  and  by  means  of 
human  activities  ;  the  only  complete  and  har- 
monious manifestation  of  Divine  excellence 
and  human  virtue  in  unmixed  and  flawless  unity. 
How  hampering  to  them  from  this  point  of 
view  was  Christ's  outward  physical  presence! 
How  difficult  to  honour  and  worship  Him,  save 
in  the  spirit  of  superstitious  homage  or  idolatry, 
Whom  they  saw  in  material  human  form,  and 
that  too  not  in  any  glorified  condition,  but 
in  feeble,  humble,  struggling,  suffering  state. 


GAIN  IN  TRAINING  DISCIPLES    113 

They  witnessed  Him,  moreover,  in  but  a  tran- 
sient phase  of  His  humanity  :  and  their  bodily 
eyes  were  not  constituted  to  see  that  glorified 
and  permanent  phase  which  is  more  fully  con- 
sonant to  His  exalted  position  and  eternal  and 
inherent  majesty. 

One  main  defect  of  the  disciples  while  Jesus 
was  with  them  in  the  flesh  consisted  in  their 
failure  to  recognize  the  Spirit  of  glory  and  of 
God  resting  upon  Him  and  working  in  Him. 
And  another  defect  like  to  it  was  their  small, 
imperfect,  and  unworthy  insight  into  and  their 
lack  of  appreciation  of  His  redemptive  mission 
and  work.     They  failed  to  understand  and  see 
Him  as  they  should.     Frankly  He  said,  '  If  ye 
had  known  Me,  ye  should  have  known  My 
Father  also.     How  long  shall  I  be  with  you 
and  suffer  you  ?     Oh,  how  slow  of  heart  to 
believe  all  that  the  prophets  have  written  of 
Me  I '     They  knew  Him  and  judged  Him  so 
much   from   the   outside    only.       Warm    and 
strong  as  was  their  attachment  to  Him,  what 
profound   and   even   culpable    ignorance   was 
manifested    in    their    misconceptions    of    this 
inner  work  of    His  !     Their  familiarity  with 
His    bodily   presence    acted    like   a   kind    of 
obstructive  film,  which  prevented  their  hearts 
from  flowing  together  in  spiritual  accord  with 

8 


114     CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

His  heart  and  becoming  spiritually  enlarged. 
How  near  they  were  to  Him,  yet  how  far 
from  understanding  Him  !  His  disappearing 
would  bring  changes  that  would  help  to  open 
their  eyes  as  to  Who  He  was,  and  what  He 
came  to  do  ;  and  not  only  purge  the  visual 
ray,  but  plant  them  in  a  favourable  position 
for  viewing  Him  aright.  It  was  as  if,  instead 
of  gazing  on  a  stained -glass  window  from  the 
outside,  they  needed  to  be  led  inside,  to  view 
the  whole  in  its  true  colours,  perspective 
and  proportion,  and  see  the  figures  and 
representations  blended  into  one  clear  and 
self-interpreting  picture.  They  had  yet  to 
know  Him  in  His  true  and  proper  place  in 
the  religious  life  of  mankind. 

Can  any  one  doubt  that  the  advent  of 
Jesus  Christ  was  for  religious  ends  the  most 
important  and  the  most  determining  factor 
in  all  human  history  ?  It  is  not  enough  for 
Him  to  be  regarded  as  a  great  sage,  like 
Confucius,  nor  a  human  fetish,  like  the  Grand 
Llama  of  Thibet,  nor  a  kind  of  man-god,  like 
Buddha,  boasting  of  having  raised  himself  into 
deity  by  his  own  art  and  merit.  He  was  to 
be  no  mere  prophet  nor  founder  of  a  religion, 
like  Zoroaster  or  Mohammed,  but  the  spring 
and  source  of  the  religion,  the  one  religion. 


GAIN  IN  TRAINING  DISCIPLES    115 

for  men,  supreme,  final,  adequate,  universal, 
destined  to  be  the  complement  and  corrective 
of  each,  and  to  supplant  them  all. 

Most  religions  have  been  tribal,  racial,  or 
national  ;  His  is  to  be  no  longer  restrictive  in 
design  and  capability,  but  coextensive  with 
mankind.  How  could  such  a  faith  admit  of 
a  visible  God,  either  fixed  to  any  local  earthly 
centre,  where  men  must  go  on  pilgrimage  to 
secure  a  sense  of  favour  and  goodwill  or 
worship  Him  after  the  flesh,  or  still  less  a 
flitting  presence  moving  from  place  to  place, 
hither  and  thither — a  conception  destructive 
of  the  very  idea  of  a  truly  spiritual  worship 
altogether  ? 

The  disciples'  view  of  their  Master  was  very 
imperfect  and  one-sided  from  a  high  spiritual 
point  of  standard.  They  had  occasional 
glimpses  of  the  reality,  but  these  were  only 
partial  and  precarious  at  the  best.  They 
needed  to  be  led  into  all  the  truth — the 
full-orbed  roundness  of  view  which  alone  is 
the  complete  and  adequate  view ;  and  this 
could  only  be  supplied  by  the  Lord  the 
Spirit  leading  them  into  the  heart  and  centre 
of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  where  they  could 
survey  the  entire  wholeness  of  the  truth,  in 
its  proper   relations  and  proportions,  its   full 


116    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

shape  and  sweep,  by  their  being  led  by  the 
Spirit  to  the  right  angle  of  vision,  where  they 
could  take  all  the  truth  in  at  a  glance,  because 
they  had  reached  the  proper  focus.  No 
omniscience  was  needed  here  :  only  the  all- 
requisite  spiritual  or  saving  knowledge  as 
spiritually  apprehended,  and  spiritually  or 
savingly  used  in  its  fulness.  Or,  as  the 
Psalmist  expresses  it,  '  Teacli  me  Thy  way  : 
Thy  Spirit  is  good  :  lead  me  into  the  Icmd  of 
uprightness.'' 

Furthermore  (/8)  Christ's  invisibleness  would 
help  them  to  get  closer  to  Him  and  more  jully 
possess  Him  and  be  possessed  by  Him.  How- 
ever close  the  intimacy  and  companionship  of 
the  disciples  with  their  Lord,  *  so  near '  as  they 
were,  they  were  yet  *  so  far.'  They  did  not 
and  could  not  attain  their  full  inheritance  in 
Him  while  He  was  visibly  by  them.  There 
was  to  be  an  inner  fellowship  beyond  anything 
that  mere  bodily  proximity  could  furnish.  He 
must  get  to  be  to  them  far  more  than  an 
external  presence,  an  external  voice,  an  ex 
ternal  force.  *  It  is  expedient  for  you  that 
I  go  away.' 

How  this  was  needful  they  could  by  no 
means  as  yet  realize.  That  their  beloved 
Master  should  withdraw  Him.self  from  them 


GAIN  IN  TRAINING  DISCIPLES    117 

and  actually  disappear  as  to  bodily  form  was 
a  heart-break.  They  revolted  from  what  was 
so  opposed  to  their  best  feelings  and  dearest 
hopes.  How  they  were  to  do  without  Him 
as  He  had  hitherto  been  with  them  was  a 
painful  and  distressing  problem.  He  had 
made  Himself  indispensable  to  them.  He 
had  taught  and  accustomed  them  to  look  to 
Himself  for  light  and  guidance,  and  to  lean 
on  Him  for  help  and  strength.  He  had 
weaned  their  affections  from  earthly  cares 
and  concerns,  from  business  and  labouring 
pursuits,  and  from  the  routine  of  their  former 
life,  and  had  bound  them  to  Himself  with 
strong  yet  tender  ties  of  an  altogether  un- 
wonted and  unworldly  order.  Can  it  be 
expedient  for  them  that  He  should  go  away  ? 
They  cannot  see  it ;  they  cannot  yet  realize 
how  it  may  turn  out  so.  Can  it  be  expedient 
for  pupils  still  so  ignorant  and  incompetent 
as  they  feel  themselves  to  be  deprived  of  their 
Teacher ;  for  fighting  and  struggling  pilgrims 
and  strangers  in  a  strange  and  new  world  to 
be  deprived  of  their  one  Guide  and  great-heart 
I^eader;  for  soldiers  just  committing  them- 
selves to  a  new  and  difficult  enterprise  to  be 
left  without  a  Captain,  and  for  weaklings  like 
them  to  be  cast  upon  the  w^orld   without  a 


118    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

visible  presence,  powerful  enough  to  protect 
and  provide  ? 

But  He  will  not  leave  them,  nor  let  them 
be  like  forsaken  and  disconsolate  orphans. 
*  Ye  have  heard  how  I  said  unto  you,  I  go 
away,  and  come  again  unto  you.'  Strange 
kind  of  arrangement  this,  of  going  away  in 
order  to  come  again !  Yet  it  is  no  idle 
nor  unmeaning  process — no  unprecedented 
casualty,  nor  without  analogy  in  the  physical 
world.  The  seed  is  cast  into  the  furrow,  and 
has  to  disappear  from  sight  under  the  clods 
in  order  to  come  again  in  a  wholly  improved 
and  different  guise.  And  as  the  sower  throws 
it  away  upon  the  ground,  '  Foolish  ! '  cries 
some  ignorant  or  thoughtless  one ;  '  why  not 
keep  it  for  food  and  store  it  up  for  use  ? ' 
'  Thou  fool ! '  may  be  the  fit  reply,  '  it  is 
cast  away  that  the  store  of  food  may  be 
increased  ;  it  is  to  disappear  and  be  buried,  in 
order  to  reappear  in  higher  form — in  ever  fresh, 
green,  living,  growing,  and  multiplied  form.' 

If  in  one  sense  Jesus  was  going  away,  in 
the  highest  and  best  sense  He  was  coming 
again  to  them— no  longer  a  mere  outward 
or  localized  presence,  but  a  truly  universal 
and  ever-available  presence,  constantly,  every- 
where,   and    under    all    circumstances    acces- 


GAIN  IN  TRAINING  DISCIPLES     119 

sible — a  presence  not  only  with  them,  but  in 
them,  and  above  the  hampering  restraints  of 
sight  and  sense,  of  space  or  time.  He  should 
be  present  then  more  fully  and  truly  than 
ever  before.  Here  is  a  grand  solace  to  the 
disconsolate  and  distracted  disciples :  neither 
His  presence  nor  a  sense  of  it  should  be  lost 
because  of  His  invisibleness.  He  should,  even 
by  very  virtue  of  it,  be  able  to  enter  into 
new  and  higher  relations  with  them,  hold 
with  them  closer  and  more  varied  converse, 
and  impart  to  them  more  satisfying  evidence 
of  the  reality  and  mutualness  of  their  felloAv- 
ship  than  ever  before. 

It  is  not  a  question  of  His  presence,  but 
simply  of  the  mode  or  measure  of  it.  '  The 
world  seeth  Me  no  more,  but  ye  see  Me ' ; 
and,  '  I  will  manifest  Myself  to  you  in  another 
way  than  to  a  sense-bound  world.  It  will  be 
My  very  self,  a  personal  presence  in  and  with 
persons — a  cheering,  strengthening,  gracious, 
and  helpful  presence ;  I  will  be  always  coming 
to  you,  flowing  in  upon  you  like  a  full  and 
free  tide.' 

A  great  mystery  no  doubt  is  all  this  to 
the  disciples :  *  Ye  cannot  bear  it  now ;  but 
ye  shall  know  hereafter.'  *  When  ye  shall  no 
more  cleave  to  Me  after  the  flesh,  nor  seek 


120    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

for  Me  through  the  eye  of  sense,  but  grasp 
Me  by  faith  in  all  My  quickening  power 
and  presence  and  fulness,  because  I  go  to 
My  Father.'  This  was  to  be  secured  by  the 
truth :  by  the  Spirit  supplying  and  minister- 
ing the  truth  as  it  has  regard  to  Christ  Him- 
self. That  was  to  be  the  Spirit's  function. 
'  He  shall  testify  of  Me  ;  and  let  you  know^  and 
realize  things  about  Me  which  you  are  in  no 
condition  as  yet  to  welcome  or  enter  into  now.' 

Again  (y)  Christ's  invisibleness  would  help 
them  to  render  Him  far  higher^  nobler^  and 
more  valuable  service.  Not  that  the  mere 
fact  of  the  invisibleness  of  itself  could  be  of 
great  avail  in  securing  so  great  a  result.  It 
afforded,  however,  a  condition  of  things 
peculiarly  favourable  to  high  attainment.  As 
long  as  the  disciples  knew  their  IMaster 
chiefly,  if  not  exclusively,  '  after  the  flesh,'  how 
weak  and  timid  they  were  on  His  behalf! 
but  when  called  to  'endure,  as  seeing  Him 
Who  is  invisible,'  how  strong  and  full  of 
noble  courage !  How  little  they  did  for 
Him,  and  how  little  interested  in  His  cause, 
while  He  remained  with  them  in  visible 
form :  how  much  they  ventured  and  dared 
for  Him  so  soon  after  He  was  gone  away ! 

Ah  !   little   they  knew   how  poor   and  im- 


GAIN  IN  TRAINING  DISCIPLES     121 

perfect,  how  frail  and  feeble,  was  their  faith, 
compared  with  the  test  and  burden  to  which 
it  would  shortly  be  exposed  and  be  called 
to  bear.  They  felt  wondrously  strong  when 
hearing  their  Master  speak  to  them,  and 
when  they  saw  Him  with  them.  They 
were  like  an  invalid,  conscious  of  a  certain 
convalescence,  and  therefore  of  more  strength 
than  when  laid  prostrate  on  his  bed,  but 
feeble  as  a  very  child  again  when  his  powers 
have  been  taxed  and  put  on  the  strain.  It 
might  do  for  the  quiet  of  the  upper  room  or 
the  Paschal  chamber,  but  not  for  the  rough 
friction  of  an  evil  and  angry  world :  not  for 
the  stress  and  pressure  of  Gethsemane  or  the 
High  Priest's  hall  of  judgment.  They  needed 
a  faith  far  fuller  of  vigour  and  intelligence ; 
not  a  faith  for  the  chamber  only,  but  for 
the  fiery  trials,  tribulations,  and  temptations 
of  fierce  hatred  and  oppositions.  One  thing 
is  an  admiring,  approving,  quiescent  faith  of 
contemplation  and  hearing ;  another  thing  is 
a  faith  of  fighting,  conquering,  suffering ;  as 
they  were  soon  to  experience.  Faith  may 
act  the  part  of  quiet  discipleship  when  that 
of  the  soldier  and  the  martyr  may  be  far 
to  seek. 

They  needed  to  be  fortified  with  fuller  and 


122    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

more  adequate  truth.  For  truth,  after  all, 
is  meant  not  merely  for  a  guide  to  the  eye, 
but  a  light  to  the  feet,  a  lamp  to  the  path. 
And  they  had  yet  to  learn  how  'in  their 
faith  they  must  supply  courage.'  Having  got 
to  know  Ghrist  in  another  way  than  through 
the  eye  of  sense,  and  having  grasped  Him 
in  the  power  and  fulness  of  a  Gospel  faith — 
a  faith  no  longer  carnal  nor  sensuous— what 
different  men  the  disciples  became,  and  how 
differently  they  carried  themselves  I  For- 
merly, while  they  seemed  to  prize  His  bodily 
presence,  they  nevertheless  all  forsook  Him 
and  fled.  Notwithstanding  all  their  profes- 
sions of  faith  and  attachment — and  Jesus 
allowed  the  sincerity  of  their  avowals — yet, 
knowing  what  other  forces  were  at  work  in 
them.  He  could  say,  'Do  you  now  believe?' 
'  Yes,  in  a  sense.  You  need,  however,  to 
ponder  over  the  ground  and  matter  of  your 
faith,  for  "  Behold  the  hour  cometh,  yea,  is 
now  at  hand,  when  ye  shall  scatter,  every 
one  of  you,  to  his  own  lurking-place,  and 
leave  Me  alone."' 

Now,  however,  when  He  had  finally  gone 
away  out  of  their  sight,  they  quietly  pro- 
ceeded in  His  name  to  turn  the  world 
upside   down.     How   easily   was   the   natural 


GAIN  IN  TRAINING  DISCIPLES     123 

courage  of  Peter  turned  to  cowardice  when 
challenged  by  a  domestic  servant !  and  how 
wofully  could  he  deny  his  Master  thrice 
over,  and  with  oaths  and  curses,  even  in  the 
immediate  bodily  presence  of  that  JNIaster  and 
under  the  very  glance  of  His  bodily  eye ! 
Yet  let  that  Master  be  withdrawn,  so  that 
He  could  be  seen  no  more,  we  hear  of  that 
same  Peter — the  same,  but  not  in  the  same 
state  of  mind — confronting  the  very  Sanhe- 
drin  without  fear  or  flinching,  and  with 
triumphant  and  unwavering  courage  confess- 
ing and  avouching  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  boldly 
witnessing  to  His  name,  as  though  His  very 
invisibleness  helped  him  to  a  fuller  and  more 
realizing  sense  of  his  Master's  glory  and 
honour,  of  the  undeniable  might  and  majesty 
of  His  claims,  and  the  matchlessness  of  his 
own  indebtedness  and  obligation. 

To  him,  as  to  his  brother  disciples,  faith 
was  a  second  sight,  revealing  far  more  than 
either  the  physical  or  natural,  or  mental  eye 
could  discern.  For,  to  the  eye  of  faith,  Jesus 
was  no  mere  record  or  historic  memory  of 
the  past,  embodied  only  on  the  sacred  yet 
ever-bright  tablets  of  his  unfading  reminis- 
cences. He  was  indeed  and  in  reality  all 
that.      But    more    than    what    the    page    of 


124    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

memory  held  in  store,  the  Jesus  he  knew 
and  loved  and  worshipped  now  was  the  Jesus 
as  interpreted  by  the  infallible  and  promised 
Spirit — *  He  shall  teach  you,  and  lead  you 
into  all  the  truth ' — and  as  He  appeared 
through  the  halo  of  His  resurrection  and 
ascension,  throned  within  the  veil,  where 
His  glorified  presence  is  itself  the  abiding, 
illuminating  light — 'the  I.amb  is  all  the 
glory.'  His  is  the  all-prevailing  intercession 
of  the  one  great  High  Priest  at  the  very 
right  hand  of  power. 

And  not  only  so,  but  He  is  not  less  the 
object  of  faith,  apart  from  sight,  with  whom 
in  the  Spirit  He  holds  daily,  constant,  sublime 
communion  as  with  a  living  person — the  Lord 
of  all,  and  the  express  medium  through 
Whom  the  supreme  mind,  will,  and  love  of 
Godhead  can  find  expression. 

No  wonder  therefore  that  the  frail  disciple 
whom  a  servant-maid's  words  had  recently 
so  much  affrighted  is  so  soon  found  facing 
the  fierce  and  angry  Jerusalem  mob  and  rulers 
too,  confessing  at  all  cost  and  hazard,  and 
stoutly  defending  his  faith  in  the  Crucified 
One,  accusing  and  charging  his  hearers  with 
the  crime  of  having  killed  the  Prince  of  Life, 
and  getting  great  multitudes  not  only  to  listen 


GAIN  IN  TRAINING  DISCIPLES    125 

to  his  sermon,  but  persuading  them  to  relent, 
and  repent  of  this  their  great  wickedness. 

And  so  he  becomes  a  fit  agent,  along  with 
his  fellow  apostles,  to  inaugurate  the  mightiest 
religious  movement  and  impulse  that  the 
world  has  ev  er  known,  and,  by  '  enduring  as 
seeing  Him  Who  is  invisible,'  to  lay  the 
foundation  of  a  spiritual  kingdom  and  dominion 
as  far  beyond  all  others  of  its  kind  as  the  rich 
fresh  fruitful  valley  of  the  Nile  exceeds  in 
worth  the  unproductive  and  unfertile  sandy 
waste  of  a  Sahara !  So  was  fulfilled  in  them 
His  own  great  word,  '  Verily,  I  say  unto  you, 
he  that  believeth  on  JMe,  the  works  that  I  do 
shall  he  do  also  ;  and  greater  works  than  these 
shall  he  do,  because  I  go  unto  3Iy  Fathe7\'  ^ 

For  under  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
there  began  to  dawn  on  them  the  full  signi- 
ficance and  true  greatness  of  the  name  and 
personality  of  their  Master,  Jesus.  They 
began  to  realize  things  pertaining  to  Him  in 
their  proper  proportions  and  magnitude.  It 
took  them  a  time  to  get  accustomed  to  this 
new  stereoscopic  view ;  but  as  they  gazed 
and  fastened  their  eyes  upon  first  the  one 
and  then  the  other  of  the  twin  photographs, 
the  two  diverse  figures  blended  gradually  into 

^  John  xiv.  12. 


126    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

one,  till  they  inwardly  beheld  the  one  figure 
in  its  unified  form.  When  these  devout  and 
sincere  early  disciples  came  to  view  the 
suffering  I^ord  as  risen  and  ascended  ;  when 
they  recalled  or  had  it  recalled  to  them  that 
it  behoved  that  same  Jesus  Who  suffered  and 
died  to  pass  away  up  into  heavenly  glory, 
as  He  Himself  had  showed  from  the  Scriptures, 
how  these  diverse  and,  as  they  once  seemed, 
quite  opposite  phases  fell  into  their  proper 
place  I  The  Christ  on  the  throne  gave  a  new 
meaning  and  grandeur  to  Clirist  on  the  cross  ; 
and  the  humiliation  of  His  death  was  exalted 
and  irradiated  through  the  glory  of  His 
triumphant  entrance  into  His  reward. 

The  Divine  condescension  of  the  Son  of  God 
in  becoming  a  partaker  of  suffering  humanity 
received  an  aureola  of  glory  from  His  throne 
in  the  heavens ;  and  this  view  of  the  invisible 
Saviour  dominated  their  entire  conception  of 
His  character,  mission,  work,  and  claims. 

All  the  diverse  elements  and  contrary  pre- 
sentments of  Himself,  which  were  a  stumbhng- 
block  before,  became  consolidated  into  the 
glorious  figure  of  an  exalted  and  invisible 
Redeemer,  to  whom  they  could  render  the 
most  perfect  obeisance  and  the  most  devoted 
and  self-denying  homage  and  service. 


CHAPTER  II 

GAIN    IN    ORIGINATING    A    CHRISTIAN 
ECONOMY 


My  Saviour,,  can  it  ever  be 

That  I  should  gain  by  losing  Thee. 

Keble. 

Christ  enters  not  by  the  eyes^  for  His  presence  is  not  marked 
by  colour  ;  nor  by  the  ears,  for  His  entrance  makes  no  sound  ;  nor 
by  the  touch,  for  you  handle  Him  not.  How,  then,  do  I  know 
He  is  present  ?  By  His  awakening  and  quickening  power.  He 
awoke  my  slumbering  soul,  pierced  my  hard  and  stony  heart, 
and  made  me  bethink  myself. — St.  Bernard. 

If  I  go  not  away,  the  Comforter  will  not  come  unto  you  ;  but 
if  I  depart,  1  will  send  Him  unto  you.— John  xvi.  7- 


CHAPTER   II 

GAIN    IN    ORIGINATING    A   CHRISTIAN 
ECONOMY 

(i)  Christ  disappeared  from  among  men  for 
the  purpose  of  inaugurating  a  religious  or 
spiritual  economy  in  connection  with  Himself 
and  His  work — an  economy  evermore  to  be  as- 
sociated with  and  called  by  His  own  name.  This 
Christian  dispensation  demands  and  is  attended 
by  a  very  special  spiritual  energy  and  activity, 
so  as  to  be  fitly  called  the  dispensation  of  the 
Spirit.  For  it  is  the  advent  and  mission  of 
the  Divine  Spirit  as  Christ's  own  Spirit  that 
alone  initiates  a  spiritual  kingdom  and  economy 
in  association  with  Christ's  name. 

But  to  secure  the  mission  and  advent  of 
this  Spirit  as  the  very  Spirit  of  Christ,  there 
is  a  needs-be  for  Christ's  own  going  to  the 
Father,  as  the  condition  and  medium,  the 
requisite  preliminary  and  channel  for  sending 
the  Comforter  to   initiate   such  an  economy, 

129  9 


130    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUK  GAIN 

and  thereby  effectually  to  represent  and 
minister  Christ  to  the  hearts  and  consciences 
of  men. 

We  do  not  wonder,  therefore,  if  the  main 
body  of  Scripture-teaching  regarding  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  chiefly  from  the  lips  of  Jesus  Himself 
It  is  from  Himself  we  have  the  first  and 
principal  instruction  respecting  the  Holy 
Spirit's  personal  work  and  relations  to  Himself 

The  chief  outstanding  name  that  He  gives 
Him  is  the  Comforter,  the  very  name  He 
challenges  also  for  Himself.  'Another  Com- 
forter the  Father  will  send  in  My  name,' 
He  says  to  His  disconsolate  disciples  in 
prospect  of  being  parted  from  them.  By 
'another'  Comforter  He  intimates  that  all 
they  had  found  Himself  to  be  they  would 
experience  in  the  coming  Promised  One,  after 
a  yet  more  inward  and  intimate  fashion. 

The  name  Paraclete,  though  very  simple, 
because  meaning  *  one  called  to  the  aid  of 
another,'  is  (as  a  technical  term  derived  from 
the  usages  of  old  Roman  law)  very  striking 
and  suggestive ;  quite  a  remarkable  and  very 
comprehensive  word,  having  no  exact  equiva- 
lent in  our  own  tongue.  A  paraclete  or 
advocate  (not  in  our  modern  sense  of  a  hired 
pleader,  but  in  the  older  sense  of  ad-vocatus, 


GAIN  IN  CHRISTIAN  ECONOMY   131 

one  called  to  our  side)  was  the  representative 
head  or  chief  of  a  clan ;  a  patron,  friend,  or 
kinsman  of  rank  and  influence,  who  stood 
by  and  took  the  part  of  a  client  summoned 
before  a  tribunal,  and  did  the  best  he  could 
on  his  behalf  This  is  a  comforter,  in  the 
old-English  usage  of  the  word,  rather  than 
in  its  present  more  limited  sense.  It  signifies 
and  should  be  pronounced  comforter,  according 
to  its  Norman- French  sound  and  meaning  of 
Supporter, — as  when  in  Wyclif  (Isa.  xli.  7) 
we  read  of  the  figure  of  the  idol,  *  He  com- 
forted it  with  nails  '  (he  supported  or  held  it  up 
with  nails),  *  that  it  should  not  be  moved.'  A 
comforter  is,  then,  a  supporter  or  upholder 
whom  we  can  summon  to  our  aid  under  all  the 
varying  circumstances  of  our  need ;  one  ready 
and  able  and  willing  to  come  at  our  call  to  our 
relief  and  rescue,  when  our  own  strength  and 
influence  cannot  sufficiently  prevail,  and  who 
can  effectually  act  for  us  and  in  our  interest  in 
so  many  ways  as  guardian,  helper,  counsellor, 
monitor,  instructor,  protector,  sustainer,  con- 
soler, and  the  like. 

All  this  Jesus  had  been  to  the  disciples. 
But  very  especially,  in  a  religious  sense.  He 
had  espoused  their  higher  good,  been  con- 
cerned to  promote  their  genuine  goodness,  and 


132    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

had  introduced  them  into  a  new  and  higher 
spiritual  sphere  of  things,  making  them  heirs 
of  many  undreamed-of  privileges,  telling  them 
of  their  Father  in  heaven,  how  to  address 
Him,  and  how  to  order  their  cause  and  pour 
out  their  hearts  before  Him  ;  how  by  dauntless 
trust  in  the  Father  and  Himself  they  could 
be  raised  above  the  region  of  doubt  and  dis- 
traction, of  remorseful  fear  and  anxious  fore- 
boding, and  be  armed  against  the  wiles  and 
deceptive  temptations  of  their  great  and  subtle 
adversary,  so  as  to  overcome  him  ;  and  He 
had  shed  into  their  hearts  a  sense  of  Divine 
love  and  of  a  blessedness  born  of  God,  and 
fraught  with  purity,  pity,  mercy,  forgiveness, 
unworldliness,  and  unselfish  benignity. 

'  The  other  Comforter,  Who  is  the  Holy 
Ghost,  Whom  the  Father  is  about  to  send  in 
My  name,  He  will  be  My  fitting  representative 
and  administrator  within  you.  And  though 
He  is  one  Whom  the  world  cannot  receive, 
because  it  seeth  Him  not,  nevertheless  He  will 
continue  to  perpetuate  My  presence  and  work 
in  the  world,  it  being  His  specific  mission  to 
interpret,  commend,  and  reveal  Me  in  all 
saving  offices  to  the  hearts  and  consciences 
and  lives  of  men.' 

This    is    His    whole    supreme    work    and 


GAIN  IN  CHRISTIAN  ECONOMY   133 

function,  '  to  take  of  JNIine  and  show  it  unto 
you  ' — '  to  be  so  the  representative  and  mini- 
strator  of  Myself  as  to  cause  men  to  reahze 
My  abiding  presence  with  them  and  in  them/ 
For  His  great  task  will  be  so  to  convey  to 
men's  minds  and  hearts  Christ's  real  presence 
and  full  personality  as  to  keep  it   free  from 
the  limitations  of  the  visible  and  temporary. 
The  Holy  Spirit's   highest  work   is   to  make 
each  heart  where  He  dwells  the  dwelling-place 
of  Christ.     Thus  He  never  speaks  of  Himself ; 
His  whole  testimony  is  of  Christ.     The  truth 
He  shows  is  Christ's  truth,  the  truth  as  it  is 
in  Jesus.     The  grace  He  imparts  is  the  grace 
of  the  Lord  Jesus,  in  order  to  the  production 
of  His  own  graces  in  men's  souls.     So  Christ 
is   the    object    He  reveals    to  us,    the   object 
He  glorifies  to  us,  the  object  He  reproduces 
in   us.       He    is    Christ's    advocate    with    us, 
as    Christ   is    our   advocate  with  the  Father. 
In  short,  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  true  and  full 
interpreter  of  Christ  to  the  heart,  as  Christ 
Himself  is  the  true  and  full  interpreter  of  the 
Father  to  us. 

And  thus,  as  Christ's  administrator.  He  takes 
the  management  of  all  religious  matters  in 
their  relation  to  Christ,  and  He  inaugurates 
a  spiritual  economy  in  association  with  Christ's 


134     CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

name.     In  doing  so,  He  is  no  niere  influence  ; 
but  being  personally  subsistent   in  Godhead, 
He  acts  on  human  spirits  as  being  themselves 
personal  agents.     How  He  does  so  may  be  a 
mystery,  but  it  is,  if  greater  in  degree,  yet  of 
the  same  kind   as  that  of  one  human  spirit 
influencing  another.     We  are  all  aware  of  the 
fact  that  the  sympathetic  and  zealous  teacher 
enters  in  some  effective  though  unknown  way 
into  the  thoughts  and  mental  processes  of  his 
pupils,    and   that    he   inspires   them  with   his 
own  thoughts  and  enthusiasm,  and  so  imparts 
himself  to   them.     We  all  know  that  in  the 
heat  of  battle  the  brave  and  energetic  officer 
infuses  his   own  bravery  and  energy  into  his 
men,  so   that   they  are  carried  beyond   their 
ordinary   selves.       He    pierces    and   animates 
their    being    with   a   daring    and   a   devotion 
kindred  to  his  own  ;  and  are  we  to  deny  such 
influence  and  quickening  power  to  the  ener- 
getic working  of  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  on 
the  spirit  of  man,  endued  as  He  is  with  so 
potent  an  instrument  of  stirring  and  rousing 
not    the    intelligence    only,    but    the    whole 
rational  and  moral  nature  of  man,  his  reason, 
conscience,  will,  emotions,  instincts,  and  affec- 
tions, as  is  supplied  in  '  the  things  of  Christ,' 
our  Saviour  and  Deliverer  ? 


GAIN  IN  CHRISTIAN  ECONOMY   135 

Confusion  here  would  often  be  avoided,  not 
to  say  fallacy,  if  men  would  cease  imagining 
they  know  more  of  matter  and  have  more 
certain  evidence  of  it  than  they  have  of  spirit. 
Let  us  never  forget  that  it  is  only  through 
mind  or  spirit  that  we  can  know  anything  of 
matter  at  all,  or  that  there  is  such  a  thing 
as  matter,  and  by  spirit  we  just  mean  all  that 
does  not  come  and  cannot  be  brought  under 
the  definition  and  properties  of  matter  ;  and 
every  one  recognizes  with  ease  what  is  under- 
stood by  his  spirit  as  the  seat  and  evidence 
of  his  own  personality.  All  are  aware  of 
passing  through  incessant  changes  of  body 
and  mind  ;  not  only  are  the  particles  of  our 
physical  frame  in  constant  flux,  but  our  habits, 
views,  affections,  purposes,  and  character 
change.  But  every  one  is  not  less  aware, 
intuitively  and  without  requiring  to  be  taught 
by  inference  or  observation  or  instruction,  that 
the  same  personal  self  persists  through  all 
such  changes,  and  no  child  needs  to  be  in- 
formed by  others  that  he  is  always  the  same 
person,  any  more  than  he  needs  to  be  taught 
to  cry. 

Now,  this  is  the  knowledge  of  spirit — a 
simple  idea  incapable  of  further  analysis.  It 
is    that    with    which    nothing    material    can 


136    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

challenge  comparison — a  subsistence  without 
shape,  colour,  or  other  material  attributes,  and 
that  can  neither  be  cut,  weighed,  nor  made 
visible.  The  very  conception  of  this  attests 
that  man's  experience  does  not  consist  of  a 
mere  succession  of  individual  or  isolated  items, 
but  of  a  unity  and  a  consciousness  of  unity 
that  binds  them  all  into  one. 

No  doubt  we  are  composite  beings,  with  a 
material  and  animal  and  a  spiritual  nature, 
having  very  varied  relations  and  affinities. 
But  by  a  human  spirit  we  mean  all  that  is 
essential  to  differentiate  between  man  and 
animal  ;  and  '  no  man  knows  the  things  of 
a  man,  but  the  spirit  of  a  man  that  is  in 
him.' 

When  we  speak  of  body,  soul,  and  spirit 
in  human  nature,  we  mean  by  soul  in  that 
connection  simply  animal  life,  with  the  ob- 
serving and  knowing  powers  attached  thereto, 
and  in  man  it  is  the  nexus  between  body  and 
spirit.  And  whenever  we  speak  of  man's 
nature  as  a  composite  of  soul  and  body,  we 
in  that  case  understand  the  human  soul  to 
include  spirit  as  the  seat  of  personality,  and 
the  scene  and  sphere  of  abstract  thought  and 
general  ideas  as  well  as  of  rehgious  capacity 
and  experience.     This  capacity  may  be  lying 


GAIN  m  CHRISTIAN  ECONOMY   137 

dormant,  sin  acting  on  it  like  bitter  frost  on 
seeds,  preventing  the  process  of  germination. 
And  just  as  there  may  be  a  waking  up  of 
mental  energy  and  intellectual  power  under 
suitable  incentives,  so  may  there  be  religious 
revival  in  the  soul,  with  fresh  outbursts  of 
spiritual  activity  and  interest,  no  more  to  be 
denied  or  overlooked  than  any  other  phe- 
nomenal experience  among  men.  To  produce 
such  spiritual  resurrection  man's  spirit  needs 
the  action  and  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
just  as  the  seed,  with  its  inherent  capacity  for 
germination,  does  yet  require  as  favourable 
conditions  the  presence  and  action  of  warmth, 
light,  moisture,  and  other  vitalizing  forces. 
And  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  these  very 
influences — water,  heat,  light,  air,  dew,  and 
the  like — are  the  very  symbols  in  sacred 
Scripture  chosen  to  indicate  the  operative 
energy  of  the  Divine  Spirit  on  our  spirits. 

Spiritual  life  is  a  distinct  order  of  life  in  us, 
just  as  spiritual  experience  is  a  distinct  order 
of  experience. 

Now,  life  of  any  kind  can  only  come  from 
kindred  antecedent  life  :  this  doctrine  of  bio- 
genesis being  one  of  the  best  established  of 
more  recent  and  modern  scientific  demonstra- 
tions.    I^ife  has  never  appeared  independently 


138    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

of  antecedent  life.  And  what  is  true  of 
the  physical  is  not  less  true  of  the  spiritual 
life.  And  it  is  according  to  the  law  of  the 
different  orders  of  life  that  the  lower  can 
be  lifted  up  into  the  region  of  the  higher 
only  by  the  higher  life  taking  the  lower  into 
union  with  itself.  Thus,  if  plant  life  is  to 
be  lifted  up  into  higher  kind  of  animal  life, 
it  cannot  be  by  any  mere  internal  force  or 
self-energy  of  the  plant,  but  by  the  animal 
life  taking  it  up  into  union  with  itself,  and 
thus  assimilating  it  into  its  own  life.  So  for 
us  to  have  spiritual  Christian  life,  of  which 
our  nature  is  susceptible,  we  must  be  taken 
up  into  vital  union  with  Christ  Himself  by 
an  effectual  faith-bond  through  the  presence 
and  acting  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  '  He 
that  hath  the  Son  hath  life  ' :  *  I  am  come 
that  they  might  have  life.'  The  law  of  the 
spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus  alone  makes  us 
free  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death.  This 
is  the  law  of  life  administered  by  the  Spirit 
in  the  name  and  power  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 
So  while  the  seat  and  scene  of  its  working 
and  manifestation  is  the  spirit  in  man,  the 
real  source  and  originating  cause  of  this 
spiritual  life  and  experience  is  the  Spirit  of 
God  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.      That  cause 


GAIN  IN  CHRISTIAN  ECONOMY   139 

is,  of  course,  no  more  known  to  consciousness 
than  is  the  cause  of  physical  Hfe.  But  the 
fact,  the  experience,  the  reahty  is  as  truly 
known  in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other. 

(ii)  But  we  may  now  note  hoiv  the  Spirit 
of  God  sent  forth  as  the  Spirit  of  Christ 
effects  the  connection  between  Chiist  and  our 
spiritual  life,  as  being  new  life  in  Christ,  and 
revealing  itself  no  longer  as  merely  religious 
life,  but  more  distinctly  as  Christian  life. 
Formerly  the  Holy  Spirit  was  of  course  ever  at 
work  in  men's  hearts  and  consciences,  creating 
and  maintaining  spiritual  life  and  experience. 
But  while  that  spiritual  life  was  the  same 
essentially  in  kind  and  nature,  it  had  not, 
of  course,  and  could  not  have,  the  specific 
features  of  what  is  now  life  in  Christ.  The 
Spirit  had  not  yet  been  given  as  the  Spirit 
of  Christ,  and  could  not  be  using  Christ  as 
His  instrument,  because  Christ  was  not  as  yet 
fully  manifested  as  the  triumphantly  glorified 
Redeemer  of  men. 

Hitherto  in  the  past  the  Spirit  had  been  in 
some  real  measure  vouchsafed  to  men,  and 
had  been  at  work  in  their  hearts  and  lives. 
*  Take  not  Thy  Holy  Spirit  from  me,'  is  a 
prayer  of  the  Psalmist.  But  besides  this 
epithet   of   *^  Holy '  there  were    others  which 


140    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

we  find  of  rich  and  varied  significance  asso- 
ciated with  His  name.  So  we  read  of  '  the 
Spirit  of  glory  and  of  God  resting  '  on  some 
one,  and  the  prayer  of  another  is,  '  Uphold  me 
with  Thy  free  Spirit '  ;  while  we  find  such 
further  references  as  *  the  Spirit  of  wisdom 
and  might,'  '  Thy  good  Spirit,'  *  I  will  put 
My  Spirit  upon  them.'  And  there  is  held 
out  the  promise  of  '  a  new  Spirit,  which  I 
will  put  xmthin  you,'  and  in  connection  with 
a  '  new  covenant '  or  economy,  pointing  to  a 
certain  advance  in  the  measure  of  the  *  gift ' 
of  the  Spirit  as  well  as  in  the  improved 
manner  and  medium  of  His  agency  and 
the  improved  instrument  He  would  have  in 
carrying  forward  His  work.  There  would 
be  such  a  difference  of  spiritual  administration 
in  its  more  immediate  association  with  Christ's 
person  and  work  as  to  be  designated,  not  by 
way  of  exclusiveness,  but  rather  of  pre- 
eminence as  compared  with  the  past,  *  the 
dispensation  of  the  Spirit.' 

(iii)  In  this  dispensation  of  the  Spirit  His 
action  differs  in  certain  itnportant  respects 
from  His  action  and  agency  in  the  former 
times  of  the  patriarchs  and  the  prophets. 
Not  to  dwell  on  the  fact  that  it  was  by  a 
special  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit  that  Jesus 


GAIN  IN  CHRISTIAN  ECONOMY   141 

was  Himself  made  partaker  of  our  humanity 
and  entered  into  our  race,  and  that  the  Spirit 
of  God  rested  on  Him  and  possessed  Him  in 
no  stinted  fashion,  but  even  without  measure, 
as  had  never  been  known  before  in  all  human 
experience,  we  may  recall  such  especially 
distinctive  features  as  these  : 

{a)  The  Spirit  was  formerly  lent,  so  to 
speak,  oil  t7^ust,  vouchsafed  on  the  credit  of 
what  Christ  was  to  do.  But  7iow  it  is  on 
the  ground  and  through  the  channel  of  what 
Christ  has  done  that  He  is  to  be  hence- 
forward shed  forth  abundantly,  so  that  He 
becomes  in  us  an  overflowing  and  ever- 
gushing  well  of  water  springing  up  into  life 
everlasting. 

The  expression,  '  I  will  pour  out  My  Spirit 
upon  all  flesh,'  indicates  both  the  new  fulness 
of  the  effusion  and  the  increased  width  over 
which  it  was  to  extend.  Formerly  the 
channel  was  deep  and  never  without  water, 
but  the  amount  was  scanty  and  the  supply 
intermittent  or  gathered  up  into  pools.  Now 
the  river  was  to  be  not  only  brimful,  but 
overflowing  like  a  flood  upon  the  dry  ground, 
and  yet  more  abiding,  and  constant,  and 
unfailing  in  its  sources  and  measures  of 
supply,    because    of    the     clearing    and    the 


142    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

opening  up  of  ceaselessly  gushing  springs 
and  fountains. 

Now,  this  is  not  the  mere  sequel,  but  it 
is  the  fit  result  and  reward  of  Christ's  re- 
demptive work  and  suffering ;  the  fit  e\ddence 
and  witness  to  its  completeness  and  its 
triumphant  accomplishment.  The  Spirit  was 
now  no  more  bestowed  on  trust  of  what  Christ 
would  do,  but  as  fit  recognition,  reward,  and 
acknowledgment  of  what  He  had  actually 
done  ;  and  is  vouchsafed  no  more  in  trickling 
streams,  but  in  an  exhaustless  ocean  fulness. 

(b)  The  only  other  distinction  we  may  at 
present  note — and  it  is  perhaps  the  chief  and 
most  significant  one— is  that  when  Chrisfs 
work  was  finished,  the  Holy  Spirit  was  put 
in  possession  for  the  first  time  of  the  most 
perfect  instrument  for  spiritual  service.  Herein 
lay  the  most  suitable  medium  of  spiritual 
enlightenment,  and  the  most  effective  imple- 
ment for  carrying  and  imparting  Divine  and 
saving  impression  to  the  minds,  and  hearts, 
and  consciences  of  men.  In  Christ's  cross  He 
found  the  most  potent  machinery  for  moving 
men's  wills  and  turning  them  from  darkness 
to  light,  and  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto 
God. 

Hence   the   world   began   to   see   sights   it 


GAIN  IN  CHRISTIAN  ECONOMY   143 

had  not  been  ever  before  accustomed  to  see, 
and  to  hear  things  that  startled  it  out  of 
rehgious  indifference,  and  to  feel  strange 
influences  wooing  and  winning  it  from  the 
minding  only  of  earthly  concerns  to  attend 
more  than  ever  earnestly  to  the  things  of 
the  Spirit  of  God. 

For  as  Christ  needed  a  body  to  accomplish 
His  work  among  men,  so  the  Holy  Spirit 
needed  a  body  of  saving  and  sanctifying 
truth  to  carry  on  His  work  efficiently  ;  and 
this  He  found  in  richest  measure  in  that 
new  body  of  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus — in  His 
incarnation,  life,  sufferings,  death,  resurrec- 
tion, and  ascension.  Then  it  is  not  so  much 
with  the  abstract  things  of  God — not  with 
the  things  of  natural  religion,  such  as  the 
evidences  of  the  existence  of  God,  or  our 
dependence  on  Him,  or  His  natural  and 
habitual  kindness  and  goodness  to  us,  and 
our  obligation  and  responsibility  to  Him  ;  not 
so  much  with  these  things,  as  rather  with 
the  gracious,  winning,  tender  gospel  of  God's 
redeeming  and  matchless  love  to  us  in  Christ 
Jesus,  that  the  hearts  of  men  are  best  stirred 
to  their  depths,  bowed  down  in  all  lowliness 
and  melted  into  tender  relentings,  moved 
and   drawn   away  from   their   indifference  to 


144    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

religion,  and  shamed  out  of  their  loveless 
and  heartless^  antipathy  to  the  things  of  God. 
It  is  with  the  things  of  Christ  that  the 
Spirit  chiefly  awakens  an  interest  in  things 
Divine,  and  creates  in  men's  hearts  a  searching 
and  yearning  after  such  things  Di\dne  and 
spiritual,  and  puts  us  on  ways  of  finding 
life  and  guidance  into  the  paths  of  righteous- 
ness and  peace. 

So  we  realize  how  it  is  not  enough  that 
Christ  should  have  done  great  things  for  us, 
unless  He  were  also  doing  great  things  in 
us.  Salvation  in  one  sense  of  the  word 
stands,  no  doubt,  for  the  salvation  achieved 
on  our  behalf  once  for  all  by  Christ  in  His 
Cross.  But  of  what  avail  were  an  historical 
salvation  accomplished  on  Calvary  so  long 
as  it  remained  outside  of  and  apart  from  us, 
so  long  as  it  took  no  effect  upon  us,  and 
laid  no  hold  on  us,  and  we  laid  no  hold 
upon  it?  Salvation  as  a  personal  salvation 
has  reference  to  something  effected  in  us, 
and  not  simply  for  us.  This  process  must 
necessarily  be  an  invisible,  because  an  internal 
or  spiritual  one ;  and  the  invisibleness  of 
Christ  by  His  going  away  left  room,  so  to 
speak,  for  such  process  being  more  efficiently 
carried  forward  within  us. 


GAIN  IN  CHRISTIAN  ECONOMY   145 

It  is  not  given  to  us  to  fathom  all  the 
reasons  rendering  it  imperative  for  Christ's 
withdrawal  from  outward  sight  before  the 
advent  and  work  of  the  Spirit  were  possible. 
There  may  be  laws  in  the  very  administration 
of  a  spiritual  economy  hid  from  our  powers 
of  comprehension,  which,  however,  might 
render  the  physical  abiding  of  the  Saviour 
wholly  incongruous,  if  not  inconsistent  with 
such  an  economy  altogether.  Be  that  as  it 
may,  we  find  it  made  clear  enough  to  us  that 
to  achieve  the  full  union  of  the  Son  of  God 
with  our  humanity,  there  must  not  only  be 
His  incarnation,  which  constitutes  Him  one 
of  our  race  as  to  external  relation,  but  there 
must  be  an  immanent,  internal  possession  of 
us  by  Himself  through  the  advent,  and  in- 
dwelling, and  in  working  of  His  own  Spirit 
within  us.  This  ensures  the  real  immanence 
of  Christ  in  His  Church  and  people ;  the 
abiding  presence  and  indwelling  of  Himself 
in  the  power  of  the  Spirit  in  that  mystical 
body  of  His — the  Church,  as  the  fulness  of 
Him  Who  filleth  all  in  all.  And  as  this 
involves  the  revelation  and  effectual  con- 
veyance of  Christ  in  the  fulness  of  His 
redemptive  offices  and  functions,  that  whole 
saving  work  as  an  external  work  must  needs 

10 


146    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

be  completed  before  He  could  send  the  Spirit 
of  all  grace  as  His  own  very  Spirit  to 
complete  the  work  within. 

So  His  ow^n  full  union  (in  His  character  of 
mediator)  with  the  Father  must  be  secured 
and  evidenced  before  He  becomes  the  perfect 
medium  for  communicating  the  Divine  Spirit 
in  His  fulness  to  our  human  nature.  And  is  it 
not  a  peculiarly  appropriate  part  of  His  reward 
that,  having  finished  His  work  as  our  incarnate 
representative,  and  having  furnished  in  His 
atoning  sacrifice  of  Himself  to  God  the  alone 
true  and  perfect  instrument  for  reaching  the 
heart  and  conscience  of  humanity,  He  should 
Himself  be  constituted  the  dispenser  and 
sender  of  the  Spirit,  as  the  fruit  of  all  His 
labours  ? 

And  just  as  there  is  a  physical  needs-be  that 
the  light  and  heat  of  the  sun  should  have  and 
must  have  an  invisible  atmosphere  for  their 
conveyance  and  diffusion,  the  invisible  Saviour 
is  the  fit  and  effective  medium  and  channel 
through  whom  the  Spirit  should  fulfil  His  work. 
Thus  the  right  to  ask  for  the  Spirit,  the  power 
to  send  Him  and  the  medium  of  His  action  are 
all  secured  by  Christ's  returning  to  the  Father, 
so  that  we  see  Him  in  the  flesh  no  more.  By 
His  thus  going  away,  the  Spirit's  mission  is  so 


GAIN  IN  CHRISTIAN  ECONOMY   147 

bound  up  with  Christ's  invisible  presence  as  to 
be  not  only  a  mission  from  Christ,  but  through 
Christ,  and  with  Christ  as  His  sealing  power, 
and/b?'  Christ  also  in  all  that  the  Spirit  pur- 
poses. And  is  it  not  supremely  becoming  to 
the  Saviour's  benevolent  character  that  such 
largesses  of  the  Spirit  should  ever  be  associated 
and  bound  up  with  Christ's  own  real  yet  invis- 
ible prophetic  presence,  His  kingly  glorification, 
and  His  high-priestly  intercession  and  kindred 
prerogatives  ? 

Thus  is  He  *  able  to  save  to  the  uttermost  all 
them  that  come  unto  God  by  Him,  seeing  He 
ever  liveth  to  make  intercession  for  them.' 
And  so  the  idea  of  this  intercession  of  His  is 
no  cold,  hard,  dry  abstraction,  but  is  rendered 
warm  with  living,  winning,  attractive  power. 

Not  that  the  Father  is  stern,  implacable,  and 
difficult  to  be  moved  favourably  on  our  behalf: 
for,  on  the  contrary,  'the  Father  Himself 
loveth  you  ' ;  but  we  need  the  encouraging 
assurance  that  '  we  have  not  a  high  priest  who 
cannot  be  touched  with  a  feeling  of  our  infirm- 
ities,' but  One  Who  Miaving  suffered  being 
tempted '  is  disposed  and  qualified  to  be  a 
merciful  as  well  as  faithful  High  Priest  on  our 
behalf — the  Great  Sufferer  for  us  being  the 
Great  Sympathizer  now.     And  how  agreeable 


148    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

and  gratifying  to  His  benignant  disposition  to 
occupy  a  place  and  fill  an  office  that  keeps 
open  the  channel  for  all  saving  benefits  and 
Divine  influence  continually  flowing  forth  in 
fulness :  to  be  the  effectual  means  for  the 
dispensation  of  the  Father's  grace,  and  yet 
mingle  witli  it  the  delightful  relish  of  His  own 
sympathy  and  the  sweet  savour  of  His  own 
mediatorial  merits  and  intercession  to  which 
we  owe  it  all.  '  If  I  go  not  away,  the  Com- 
forter will  not  come  unto  you ;  but  if  I 
depart,  I  will  send  Him  unto  you.' 


CHAPIER    III 

GAIN    IN    DEVELOPING    A    SPIRITUAL 
KINGDOM    UNDER    CHRIST 


Jesus  came  preaching  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  and 
saying.  The  time  is  fulfilled. — Mark  i.  14^  15. 

Now  is  come  salvation,  and  strength,  and  the  kingdom  of  our 
God,  and  the  power  of  His  Christ :  for  the  accuser  of  our  brethren 
is  cast  down. — Rev.  xii.  10. 

When  He,  the  Spirit  of  Truth,  is  come.  He  will  convince  the 
world  of  sin,  and  of  righteousness,  and  of  j  udgment :  of  sin,  be- 
cause they  believe  not  on  Me  ;  of  righteousness,  because  I  go  to 
the  Father,  and  ye  see  Me  no  more  ;  of  judgment,  because  the 
prince  of  this  world  is  judged. — John  xvi.  8-11. 


CHAPTER   III 

GAIN    IN    DEVELOPING    A    SPIRITUAL 
KINGDOM    UNDER   CHRIST 

Having  now  seen  the  gain  and  advantage  of 
Christ's  invisibleness  to  the  first  disciples,  and 
the  further  gain  and  advantage  of  it  in 
inaugurating  or  initiating  a  kingdom  of  the 
Spirit  and  connecting  it  with  Christ's  name 
by  the  advent  and  mission  of  a  Spirit  all  His 
own,  we  advance  a  step  farther,  to  consider 
how  or  by  what  measures  this  Spirit  of  Christ 
proceeds  in  developing  a  kingdom  that  can 
truly  be  called  Christ's  own  kingdom. 

(i)  There  are  three  great  obstacles  to  be 
overcome  in  effecting  such  a  result,  and  these 
three  obstacles  Jesus  emphasizes  in  the  above 
passage:  {a)  the  lack  in  the  world  of  any 
adequate  sense  of  sin,  and  an  adequate  dis- 
suasive from  it ;  {b)  the  lack  of  any  adequate 
standard  and  sense  of  the  need  of  righteousness 
worthy  of  the   name,    and   of  any   adequate 

151 


152    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

dynamic  energy  to  ensure  it ;  and  (c)  the 
lack  of  any  well-assured  and  adequate  strength 
to  cope  successfully  with  the  power  and 
dominion  of  evil. 

Now,  there  are  three  mighty  forces  within 
us — the  three  transcendent  but  invisible  fibres 
of  our  being  which  we  call  Faith,  Love,  and 
Hope  ;  and  if  these  were  but  called  into  full 
play  and  yoked  with  corresponding  invisible 
forces  derived  from  Christ,  then  the  whole 
powers  of  a  superhuman  kingdom  would  be 
found  to  be  at  work.  The  mission  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  is  just  to  get  us  to  connect  these 
hidden  powers  that  are  within  us  with  the 
threefold  supplies  of  grace  in  Christ  Jesus  ;  for 
by  such  a  connection  there  will  be  seen  at 
once  in  highest  efficiency  the  work  of  faith,  the 
labour  of  love,  and  the  patience  of  hope.  For 
want  of  this  connection,  these  mightiest  and 
most  majestic  forces  of  human  nature,  our 
faith,  hope,  and  love,  lie  dormant  and  inefficient. 
Or  they  are  wasted  and  thrown  away  by  being 
diverted  from  their  highest  objects,  so  that 
neither  ourselves  nor  others  get  all  the  joy 
and  benefit  from  them  they  otherwise  would 
yield. 

Now,  this  is  the  work  of  the  Spirit  of  God, 
so    far   as    we    personally    are    concerned,   to 


GAIN  TO  SPIRITUAL  RULE     153 

exhibit  Christ  as  the  one  ideal  and  all-perfect 
object  of  our  faith,  love,  and  hope,  and  to 
persuade  and  enable  us  to  fix  these  fibres  of 
our  being  on  Him  alone,  above  all  other  com- 
peting objects  on  which  they  may  be  set,  and 
to  help  us  to  draw  up  out  of  Him  those 
supplies  and  supports  which  alone  can  sustain 
these  powers  in  their  fullest  vigour  and  their 
most  joyful  exercise. 

Man's  nature  in  its  original  design  is  to 
know  and  accept  the  essentially  true ;  to 
admire  and  grow  into  the  essentially  beautiful, 
and  to  receive  and  enjoy  the  essentially  good. 
The  Spirit's  work  is  to  lead  us  to  identify  all 
central,  saving,  and  essential  truth  with  Christ 
in  His  teaching  and  prophetic  functions  ;  to 
associate  eternal  and  unfading  beauty  with 
Christ  in  all  His  priestly  character  and 
functions,  so  as  to  see  it  and  be  ourselves 
transformed  into  it,  by  this  vision  of  Christ 
in  His  personality,  His  character,  and  His 
cross  ;  and  to  take  hold  of  Him  so  as  to  reach 
forth  to  all  lasting  and  final  good,  which  can 
alone  be  found  in  connection  with  His  kingly 
functions  and  His  felt  dominion  over  our  whole 
individual  being. 

In  its  present  condition  human  nature  is 
indisposed  either  to  see  or  receive  the  truth  as 


154    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

it  is  in  Jesus ;  it  is  averse  to  the  standard  and 
character  of  the  holy  beauty  that  shines  in 
Him  ;  and  it  is  reluctant  to  choose  and  cleave 
to  the  good  which  He  alone  proffers  and  can 
alone  vouchsafe.  Christ's  invisibleness  affords 
room  and  verge  enough  at  once  for  the  play  of 
our  faith,  love,  and  hope  toward  Him,  and  for 
the  display  by  His  Spirit  of  all  the  excellencies 
of  the  true^  the  beautifid,  and  the  good  in  Him 
as  the  alone  adequate  spiritual  dynamic  for 
convicting  the  world  of  sin,  of  righteousness, 
and  of  judgment. 

A  man  must  have  (1)  an  adequate  sense  of 
sin  ;  a  sense  of  it  corresponding  to  what  it  is  in 
its  nature,  reality,  magnitude,  pervasiveness, 
and  guilt — and  not  a  mere  consciousness  of  its 
existence  and  troublesomeness  when  per- 
petrated by  others,  but  a  consciousness  of  it  as 
his  own,  a  rebuking  and  condemning  con- 
sciousness of  it  as  present  and  operative  in  his 
own  heart,  else  he  will  never  see  a  place  for  a 
kingdom  of  God,  never  appreciate  its  privileges, 
never  seek  a  Saviour,  nor  feel  that  he  needs 
one.  And  unless  a  man  realize  (2)  the  glory 
of  a  perfect  righteousness,  and  be  assured  there 
is  such  a  thing  for  him  to  rectify  his  relations 
with  his  Father  in  heaven  and  to  remedy  his 
own   poignant  sense  of  demerit  for  positive 


GAIN  TO  SPIRITUAL  RULE     155 

shortcoming  and  evil-doing,  there  will  be  no 
settled  peace,  or  comfort,  or  abiding  joy,  or 
any  of  the  other  blessings  of  a  benign  and 
heavenly  kingdom  ybr  hhn  here  and  now.  And 
(3)  if  he  have  no  fixed  expectation  that  the 
kingdom  and  dominion  of  evil  has  been  already 
vanquished  and  is  doomed  to  final  ruin  and 
overthrow,  he  will  lose  heart  in  the  long  con- 
flict, and  surrender  himself  to  spiritual  in- 
difference, lethargy,  or  pessimistic  despair. 

(ii)  Here,  then,  is  the  threefold  evangelical  and 
saving  procedure  whereby  the  Spirit  of  Christ, 
in  developing  a  spiritual  kingdom  in  the  power 
of  His  grace,  turns  Christ  Invisible  to  the 
fullest  account,  and  utilizes  Him  for  that  three- 
fold purpose  which  is  here  described. 

(a)  'He  will  convict  the  world  of  sin,  because 
tJiey  believe  not  on  Me'  By  this  is  meant 
not  simply  His  revealing  the  wickedness  of 
rejecting  or  despising  Christ  as  being  a  great 
criminal  offence  against  truth,  righteousness, 
and  love,  or  as  being  a  fontal  or  mother  sin 
in  itself,  but  chiefly  His  making  men  feel  that 
sin  lies  bound  on  the  world  as  a  disgrace, 
a  curse,  and  a  torment  so  long  as  they  are 
not  believing  in  Him,  the  invisible  but  ever- 
present  Saviour.  For  if  there  be  but  one 
Saviour,   it   is   because  the  world   needs   but 


156    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

one,    for   He    is    the    very    all-suitable    and 
all-sufficient  Saviour  it  needs. 

It  is  a  great  part  of  the  Spirit's  work  to 
bring  home  to  the  world's  heart  and  conscience 
that,  apart  from  believing  in  Him  Whom  God 
has  sent  as  the  alone  adequate  Redeemer, 
there  is  no  deliverance  from  an  otherwise 
irremediable  evil,  an  otherwise  unremovable 
curse  and  burden.  It  is  the  revelation  of 
Christ  dying  for  sin  that  becomes,  in  the  hands 
of  the  Spirit,  the  best  instrument  for  bringing 
home  to  men's  hearts  and  consciences  the 
melting,  subduing,  and  humbling  sense  of  sin, 
not  as  a  mere  negative  imperfection  in  human 
nature,  but  a  positively  wicked  and  criminal 
enmity  and  antipathy  to  God  and  goodness — 
not  something  of  good  in  the  making,  as  some 
would  fondly  think  of  sin,  but  rather  the  very 
unmaking  of  good,  the  very  reversal  of  good- 
ness. Herein  consists  the  sinfulness  of  sin, 
the  guilt  and  criminality  of  wickedness.  And 
it  is  in  the  presentation,  by  the  Spirit,  of  Christ 
crucified  and  condemned  to  die  by  the  world's 
sin,  as  well  as  for  the  world's  sin,  that  there 
is  produced  in  men's  souls  a  truly  spiritual, 
principled,  and  abiding  conviction  of  the  sinful- 
ness of  sin,  with  tender  contiition  for  it,  self- 
condemning    confession   of    it,   and    practical 


GAIN  TO  SPIRITUAL  RULE     157 

conversion,    and     turning    with     hatred    and 
loathing  from  it. 

Here  the  Spirit  finds  that  burning-glass 
for  focusing  the  rays  of  Divine  holiness, 
righteousness,  grace,  and  love  upon  frozen  and 
ice-bound  hearts,  and  melting  them  into  the 
exercise  of  penitential  relentings.  It  is  by 
the  Spirit's  inward  representation  of  the  in- 
^  isible  Saviour  to  the  world's  heart  and  con- 
science that  the  world  is  to  be  convinced  of 
its  own  sinfulness  in  sinning,  such  conviction 
being  brought  home  to  it  by  the  self-con- 
demning effects  and  experiences  of  not  believing 
in  the  name  of  the  only-begotten  Son  of  God, 
such  unbelief  being  the  very  heart  and  core 
of  all  ungodliness  and  sinfulness  both  of 
character  and  life.  It  is  here  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  finds  all  the  motive  forces  and  all  the 
springs  of  dynamic  power  for  enlightening 
men's  minds  in  the  knowledge  of  what  sin 
really  is,  and  so  in  softening  their  hearts, 
subjugating  their  wills,  and  solemnly  impress- 
ing their  consciences.  He  wins  and  woos  by 
Christ  as  well  as  for  Christ,  is  never  divorced 
from  Christ,  and  He  never  seeks  to  achieve 
any  spiritual  faith  dissociated  from  Christ.  It 
is  by  the  Spirit's  representation  of  Christ  and 
His  interpretation  of  Him  to  the  soul  that  the 


158    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

world  gets  to  be  convinced  of  its  own  great 
sinfulnesSj  and  acquires  a  sense  of  the  self- 
condemning  fruits  of  not  believing  in  Christ's 
name.  And  this  is  the  universal  experience  of 
all  Christian  believers. 

And  so  wonderful  are  the  moral  fruits  and 
eflfects  of  a  conviction  of  the  wickedness  and 
evil  deserts  of  not  believing  in  Christ's  name 
that  it  affects  and  works  on  men  morally  and 
spiritually,  as  the  outer  atmosphere  operates 
on  the  physical  constitution  of  men — like  a 
substance  and  arrangement  fitted  and  intended 
to  subserve  an  immensely  diversified  variety 
of  physical  ends,  such  as  protecting  by  its 
elasticity  all  living  things  from  hurt  and 
destruction,  while  our  globe  rushes  through 
space  at  the  almost  incredible  speed  of  eleven 
hundred  miles  a  minute,  and  yet  sustaining 
vegetable  life  with  nourishment  and  supplying 
the  lungs  of  animal  beings  so  very  differently 
constructed  with  what  shall  keep  them  in  play, 
a  vehicle  too  and  medium  at  the  same  time 
of  light,  colour,  heat,  and  sound,  as  well  as 
a  highway  of  winds,  electric  currents,  clouds, 
and  rain — and  a  reservoir  of  innumerable  and 
varied  gases,  chemicals,  and  hidden  molecular 
forces.  For  not  less  marvellous  are  the 
moral  and  spiritual  benefits  derived  from  a  con- 


GAIN  TO  SPIRITUAL  RULE     159 

viction  of  the  evils  of  not  believing  in  Jesus, 
in  Whom  are  combined  such  adaptations  of 
God's  simple,  artless,  unencumbered  plan  for 
affording  an  effective  exliibition  at  once  of 
the  Divine  mercy  and  the  Divine  rectitude,  the 
Divine  severity  and  the  Divine  tenderness,  the 
Divine  holiness  and  the  Divine  forbearance. 

Here  is  something  to  bring  home  to  men's 
conscience  how  badly  they  have  deserved  at 
the  hand  of  God,  and  yet,  instead  of  over- 
v^helming  them  in  despair,  inspiring  them 
rather  with  true  and  filial-hearted  trust  in 
and  confidence  toward  Him  they  have  so 
affronted  and  offended  ;  something  to  deeply 
humble  yet  grandly  elevate  men's  spirits ; 
something  that  achieves  double  yet  opposite 
triumphs,  such  as  deepening  in  men  the  sense 
of  guilt,  yet  prompting  them  to  look  to  the 
same  source  for  peace  to  an  aggrieved  and 
remorseful  conscience ;  something  fitted  to 
smite,  and  yet  to  heal — to  kill,  yet  to  make 
alive ;  to  wound  and  chasten,  yet  at  the  same 
time  cheer  and  exhilarate  the  soul ;  to  work 
repentance  and  faith  ;  to  put  a  new  spirit  in 
the  old  man,  so  as  at  once  to  make  him,  while 
*  dead  to  sin,'  yet  *  alive  unto  righteousness.' 

(b)  *  He  will  convince  the  world  of  righteous- 
ness, because  I  go  to  the  Father,  and  ye  see 


160    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

Me  no  more'  The  cross  of  Christ,  which 
brings  out  into  painful  clearness  the  black 
infamy  of  the  world's  sin,  brings  out  no  less 
into  bold  relief  the  effulgent  glory  of  Christ's 
remedial  and  redemptive  righteousness. 

The  world  called  Him  a  sinner,  cast  Him  out 
and  put  Him  to  death  as  a  malefactor,  and 
treated  Him  as  all  unworthy  and  unrighteous. 
How  grossly  mistaken,  how  criminally  per- 
verted, was  this  judgment  1  What  a  demon- 
stration that  the  world's  idea  of  righteousness 
was  miserably  false  as  well  as  ineffective  !  In 
the  act  of  condemning  Him,  what  a  con- 
demnation to  itself!  The  event  showed  that 
the  world's  way  of  maintaining  righteous 
judgment  was  as  imperfect  in  its  standard  as 
it  was  perverse  and  malicious  in  its  application 
of  it.  Christ's  resurrection  from  the  dead 
and  His  ascension  to  spiritual  power  and  glory 
were  Heaven's  attestation  and  witness  to  His 
all-perfect  and  accepted  righteousness,  while 
the  advent  of  the  Spirit  and  His  effusion  in 
Christ's  name  were  ample  ratification  and 
confirmation  of  that  same  testimony.  What 
light,  new  and  fresh  light,  is  cast  upon 
righteousness — light  on  what  righteousness 
really  is — by  the  Holy  Spirit  being  able  to 
avail  Himself  of  the  righteousness  unfolded 


GAIN  TO   SPIRITUAL   RULE    161 

by  Christ  and  exemplified  in  Him !  The 
righteousness  evidenced  by  His  going  to  the 
Father,  and  being  seen  outwardly  no  more, 
is  certified  as  no  mere  external  compliance 
with  any  formal  rules  and  regulations,  but 
belongs  essentially  to  the  hidden  invisible 
man  of  the  heart. 

Such  righteousness  is  of  course  to  be  seen 
in  outward  acts  and  conduct,  but  must  never 
be  divorced  from  the  thoughts  and  intents 
of  the  inward  nature.  Murder  is  not  the 
mere  external  act ;  it  includes  the  secret  and 
hidden  nature  and  malice.  So  theft  is  not 
the  mere  act  of  stealing,  but  the  latent  dis- 
position to  steal,  without  which  no  theft  can 
be.  Similarly,  on  the  opposite  side,  real 
righteousness  is  not  any  mere  self-righteous- 
ness, not  some  fond  attention  to  certain 
conventional  rules  of  moral  decency  merely  ; 
not  a  mere  grinding  away  at  outward  ritual 
or  ceremonial  observances  in  matters  of  reli- 
gion without  regard  to  principled  obedience 
to  Divine  and  ethical  law  and  requirement. 
A  righteous  being  is  one  who,  while  doing 
righteously,  does  it  out  of  a  righteous  nature, 
and  out  of  a  love  for  righteousness  for  its 
own  sake ;  and  who  discharges  equally  all 
parts     of    righteousness,     not     picking    and 

11 


162    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

selecting    some    to    do,    and   leaving  others 
undone. 

With  the  cross  of  Christ,  the  revelation  and 
fulfilment  of  all  righteousness,  the  Holy  Spirit 
pricks  men's  hearts  and  consciences,  and  con- 
vinces them  of  what  true  righteousness  is  that 
is  worthy  of  the  name.  As  good  fruit  comes 
only  from  good  sap  in  a  good  tree,  so 
righteousness  can  come  only  from  the  principle 
of  and  liking  for  righteousness  working  in  a 
righteous  character  and  nature ;  in  a  heart 
that  is  steadfastly  fixed  and  settled  on  the 
side  of  righteousness,  and  that  wells  up  freely 
and  spontaneously  in  righteousness.  And 
this  righteousness  embraces  and  demands  all 
kinds  and  classes  of  moral  excellence,  carried 
out  on  every  side  and  in  every  relation  of 
life.  Not  the  stronger,  or,  as  they  are  deemed, 
the  more  masculine  only  of  virtues,  such  as 
truth,  courage,  justice,  rectitude,  and  the  like  ; 
but  it  requires  no  less  the  gentler  and  more 
feminine  aspects  of  it,  such  as  patience  under 
injury,  forgiveness  of  personal  wrongs,  meek- 
ness, mercifulness,  purity,  pity,  humility, 
sympathy,  kindness,  and  beneficence.  I^ook- 
ing  at  all  these  graces  as  perfectly  displayed 
by  Jesus  Himself  in  His  life  and  death,  in 
His  active  virtue  and  His  passive  virtue,  the 


GAIN   TO   SPIRITUAL   RULE    163 

Holy  Spirit  can  present  to  men  an  ultimate 
standai^d  of  righteousness  such  as  the  world 
can  nowhere  display,  and  a  strong  viotive  for 
it,  as  well  as  a  puissant  aid  to  it  nowhere 
else  presented. 

And  all  Christ  did  and  submitted  to, 
all  He  undertook  and  underwent,  all  He 
achieved  and  suffered,  was  wholly  in  the 
interests  of  righteousness  as  an  exemplifica- 
tion of  the  holiness,  equity,  integrity,  be- 
nevolence, and  irreversibleness  of  the  moral 
law  as  the  alone  and  supreme  law  of  our 
being  and  our  well-being. 

That  law  He  was  concerned  to  magnify 
and  make  honourable,  however  human  nature, 
with  its  biased  prepossessions  and  unworthy 
and  imperfect  standard  of  ideals,  may  imagine 
that  it  is  demanding  more  from  human  nature 
than  it  can  do.  Men  are  apt  to  say  in  their 
hearts  (like  the  evil-minded  servant  in  the^ 
parable)  that  the  Lord  asks  more  of  them 
than  He  ought,  and  exacts  of  them  a  heavier 
tax  than  they  should  be  called  on  to  bear. 

The  Holy  Spirit  alone  can  weed  out  this 
root  of  bitterness  from  the  heart  of  the  world, 
by  revealing  Christ,  not  merely  as  exemplify- 
ing but  providing  for  it  and  proffering  freely 
the  benefits   of  the   all-perfect  righteousness 


164    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

which  He  has  wrought  out  and  brought  in 
for  us ;  and  by  our  appHcation  for  which,  and 
by  His  apphcation  of  which,  the  whole  situa- 
tion is  altered,  a  peaceful  arrangement  is 
secured,  and  a  thoroughly  new  and  happy 
method  of  adhesion  to  the  law  of  God  is 
finally  gained. 

To  be  enclosed  in  Christ,  the  alone 
righteous  One — the  liOrd  our  righteousness — 
conscience  is  pacified,  fears  are  quelled,  the 
whole  man  is  satisfied,  and  his  whole  atti- 
tude and  regard  for  righteousness  is  changed 
For  who  of  human  kind  can  boast  of  a  per- 
fect righteousness  in  himself?  In  presence  of 
the  righteousness  which  Christ  displays,  what 
can  all  our  own  righteousness  be  but  filthy 
rags,  that  can  neither  clothe  our  nakedness 
nor  conceal  our  foulness  ?  Who  can  present 
a  righteousness  of  his  own,  or  be  entitled  to 
say  of  it,  *  This  is  enough  to  meet  all  require- 
ments and  make  amends  for  fatal  shortcom- 
ings ? '  Where,  then,  is  such  a  righteousness 
to  be  had  ?  *  I  bring  near  My  righteousness  ' ; 
meaning  by  this  not  the  personal  or  Divine 
attribute,  nor  the  character  of  rectitude  in- 
herent in  the  Divine  nature,  but  a  method 
of  furnishing  us  with  what  the  holy  law 
requires,  and   what   no   less  the  clamours  of 


GAIN   TO    SPIRITUAL   RULE    165 

an  enlightened,  awakened,  and  disquieted  con- 
science also  demands.  '  For  this,'  says  an 
apostle,  *  we  do  not  need  to  say  in  our 
hearts,  Who  shall  ascend  into  heaven — 
that  is,  to  bring  Christ  down  from  above  ? 
Or  into  the  deep,  to  bring  Him  up  from 
the  dead  ?  P^or  the  righteousness  which  is 
of  God  by  faith  speaketh  on  this  wise. 
The  word  is  nigh  thee,'  even  the  word  of 
the  Gospel  message. 

Hear,  therefore,  what  is  its  decree  and 
judgment :  '  Christ  hath  wrought  out  and 
brought  in  an  everlasting  righteousness,  which 
is  upon  all  and  for  all  them  that  believe.' 

It  has  been  sometimes  said,  '  But  why  does 
not  God  freely  forgive  and  receive  His  sinful 
prodigals  like  an  earthly  parent  ? '  Oh,  the 
shame  of  suggesting  that  God  does  not 
pardon  far  more  freely  than  any  earthly 
parent,  however  tender !  Oh,  the  shame  of 
forgetting  that  God  deals  with  offenders' 
guilt  and  the  sense  of  it  as  no  earthly  parent 
ever  affects  to  do !  And  even  the  righteous- 
ness needful  for  the  removal  of  guilt  is  freely 
and  gratuitously  provided  and  proffered,  so 
that  He  may  answer  the  distressful  cry  of 
the  suppliant,  'Take  all  my  guilt  away.' 
No  earthly  parent  can  pretend  to  meet  such 


166    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

an   appeal  as    that.     Divinely   righteous   for- 
giveness alone  does  it. 

This,  then,  is  no  mere  legal  fiction  nor 
pious  make-believe.  It  is  a  tremendous 
reality  for  every  one  who  wants  his  sins 
righteously  forgiven,  and  is  ready  to  receive 
and  welcome  the  benefits  of  a  Redeemer's 
righteousness — for  there  is  no  transference  of 
character  or  merit  in  this  process,  but  the 
righteousness  is  reckoned  or  imputed  to  the 
acceptor's  account :  while  the  same  faith 
which  unites  to  Christ  for  the  good  of  a 
righteousness  imputed  binds  inevitably  the 
beneficiary  to  a  love  of  righteousness — the 
love  of  a  perfect  righteousness  for  its  own 
sake — and  so,  at  the  same  time,  an  in- 
wrought righteousness  is  infallibly  imparted 
and  secured. 

Thus  Christ  is  set  forth  by  the  Holy  Spirit's 
illumination  to  be  both  '  the  righteousness  of 
God '  to  the  sinner  and  the  righteousness  of 
the  sinner  to  God. 

And  this  is  why  Christ  behoved  to  be 
seen  no  more  on  earth,  because  there  was 
nothing  further  for  Him  to  do  on  it  to  which 
His  bodily  presence  could  contribute.  But 
because  of  righteousness  of  the  true  and 
perfect   kind,    and    in    its   interests,    He   has 


GAIN   TO    SPIRITUAL    RULE    167 

gone  to  the  Father  to  be  the  channel  of  its 
conveyance,  as  well  as  to  send  the  Spirit  to 
demonstrate  in  the  world  the  perfection, 
acceptance,  and  abiding  availableness  of  the 
righteousness  He  has  achieved  for  us,  and 
now  presents  on  our  behalf,  with  a  liberty 
for  us  to  plead  its  virtue,  for  which  His 
visible  presence  is  neither  needful  nor  in  any 
way  helpful.  Thus  the  Holy  Spirit  arms  the 
soul  and  conscience  with  a  plea  of  righteous- 
ness which  alone  can  answer  the  fears  of 
a  thorough  inquiry,  and  meet  a  charge  of 
judgment  which  would  be  only  unto  con- 
demnation. 

Finally,  (c)  *  He  will  convince  the  i^orld 
of  judgment^  because  the  prince  of  this  world 
is  judged.'  A  great  sentence  has  gone  forth 
into  the  moral  world,  and  a  lawless  usurper 
is  righteously  condemned  to  surrender  his 
unrighteously  seized  power  and  dominion. 
Assuming  to  make  himself  lord  and  master 
of  this  world,  and  affecting  to  bear  sway 
over  it  by  gilded  lies,  by  cunning  blandish- 
ments, by  false  pretences  and  crafty  frauds, 
as  malignant  and  cruel  as  they  are  invidious 
and  subtle,  he  has  been  righteously  con- 
demned to  lose  his  hold,  and  to  see  all  his 
ambitions     and     contrivances     exposed     and 


168    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

shattered.  A  discredited,  outwitted,  and  van- 
quished pretender,  he  has  found  ah-eady  his 
glory  ecUpsed,  the  nerves  and  sinews  of  his 
empire  shivered  and  shattered,  and  the 
resources  of  his  power  cut  off  and  in  process 
of  being  altogether  dried  up.  He  staked  his 
all  on  having  Christ  rejected  and  crucified ; 
he  lost  his  all  through  the  Cross  itself 
becoming  Christ's  very  throne  and  crown. 
There — by  the  whole  processes  of  the  Divine 
government — the  judicial  processes  of  moral 
order  have  received  fresh  force  and  sanction, 
and  the  holy  law  has  been  vindicated,  its 
glory,  excellence,  and  majesty  upheld,  and 
its  sway  not  only  recovered,  but  vastly 
enlarged. 

Two  kings  and  kingdoms  thus  stand  forth 
revealed  as  never  before  in  clear  contrast 
and  conflict.  The  pitched  battle  has  been 
fought  ;  and  now  the  prince  of  this  world 
has  been  cast  dow?i,  the  pledge  and  prelude 
of  his  being  certainly  at  last  cast  out.  In 
hand-to-hand  struggle  has  the  conflict  been 
joined.  The  whole  gospel  story  can  be  told 
in  terms  of  the  long  and  sharp  personal 
encounter,  from  the  first  fierce  onset  in  the 
wilderness  temptation  to  the  time  when  *  the 
prince  of  this  world  cometh,  and  hath  nothing 


GAIN   TO   SPIRITUAL   RULE    169 

in  Me,'  and  the  old  word  was  fulfilled,  '  Thou 
shalt  bruise  his  head,  if  he  shall  bruise  Thy 
heel.'  For  has  not  the  Son  of  God  our 
Saviour  entered  into  this  world  on  behalf 
of  its  rightful  and  lawful  Lord,  to  wrest 
it  from  the  grasp  and  sway  of  a  lawless 
usurper,  and  to  establish  in  it  a  kingdom 
and  dominion  of  such  a  sort  as  shall  demon- 
strate the  intrinsic  superiority  of  goodness, 
truth,  and  righteousness,  when  on  equal 
terms  and  in  fair  fight  their  immortal  energies 
are  pitted  against  malignity,  falseness,  and 
all  iniquity,  however  cunningly  disguised  or 
secretly  plotted  ? 

By  this  kingdom  of  God  is  not  meant  that 
moral  government  or  overruling  Providence 
under  which  all  men  and  things  are  managed 
and  regulated,  but  that  special  redemptive 
or  restorative  economy  which  does  not  re- 
verse or  supersede  universal  moral  order,  but, 
working  in  accordance  with  it,  and  as  a 
power  within  it,  seeks  to  secure  salvation 
for  and  in  men  with  the  defence  and  triumph 
of  moral  order  among  them. 

The  Church  is  not  identical  nor  co-extensive 
wdth  this  kingdom  of  grace  and  redemption, 
which  is  meant  to  embrace  all  human  activities 
and    interests    in   politics,    science,   law,    art. 


170    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

trade,  and  the  like — the  Church  being  the 
instrument  and  agency  for  defending  and 
extending  that  kingdom,  to  which  it  stands 
related  very  much  as  the  executive  authority 
or  administrative  forces  in  any  civil  state, 
and  its  aim  is  to  overcome  and  baffle  the 
operations  and  influences  of  the  spirit  of 
wickedness  on  earth. 

And  as  this  hidden  spirit  of  wickedness 
has  to  be  spiritually  discerned,  and  searched 
out  and  wrestled  with,  so  it  can  only  be 
successfully  met  and  overthrown  by  a  king- 
dom of  a  Spirit  wielding  no  merely  visible, 
carnal,  nor  worldly  weapons,  but  employing 
only  spiritual  forces  to  cope  effectually  with 
the  secret  things  of  a  kingdom  of  darkness. 
And  how  best  can  such  affairs  and  interests 
be  administered  but  by  an  invisible  King  and 
Head  operating  through  a  Spirit  of  light 
and  life,  of  love  and  liberty  ?  How  much  of 
this  kingdom  of  His  had  Christ  to  set  forth 
in  word  and  deed,  in  parable  and  miracle,  in 
signs  and  wonders  ?  Did  not  He  open  His 
ministry  by  preaching  the  gospel  of  the 
kingdom,  setting  it  forth  in  His  first  royal 
manifesto,  with  its  benedictions,  laws,  and 
relations ;  and  illustrating  it  from  time  to 
time  in  its  theocratic  constitution,  its  spiritual 


GAIN   TO   SPIRITUAL   RULE    171 

methods,  aims,  and  operations,  its  sacred 
principles  and  privileges,  its  universal  scope 
and  sway,  and  finally  its  triumphant,  all- 
absorbing,  all-pervading,  and  all-subduing  in- 
fluence ?  This  is  no  kingdom  of  outward 
meat  and  drink,  but  righteousness,  and  peace, 
and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  Such  a  kingdom 
can  never  gather  and  crystallize  around  a 
visible  or  local  Christ  on  earth,  however 
much  it  must  draw  its  motive  power  and 
exhaustless  energy  from  His  life  and  death 
of  redeeming  love. 

Men  may  fashion  for  themselves  a  Christ 
Who  is  primarily  an  earthly  reformer,  but  the 
real  Christ  set  His  heart  jir^st  on  a  spiritual 
kingdom  ;  and  this  is  His  order  of  things, 
and  any  other  runs  counter  to  His  whole 
mind  and  aim.  '  Seek  first  the  kingdom  of 
God  and  His  righteousness,'  while  nothing 
doubting  that  all  needful  earthly  blessings 
will  naturally  wait  thereon. 

Some  mighty  hero  or  conqueror  may  found 
an  empire,  but  he  cannot  ensure  a  succession 
equal  to  himself;  so  his  empire  passes  away 
with  his  own  disappearance  from  among  men. 

But  against  this  kingdom  of  the  Spirit 
the  gates  of  hell  can  never  prevail.  Christ's 
governance  of  it  is  not  like  that  of  a  human 


172    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

monarch,  whose  visible  rule  controls  from  the 
outside  by  merely  external  power,  and  agency, 
and  resource.  Here  is  an  everlasting  king- 
dom, whose  resources  are  inexhaustible  and 
perennial,  maintained  by  an  administration 
that  is  subject  to  no  earthly  contingencies 
and  liable  to  no  successful  attack. 

'  For  now  is  come  salvation,  and  strength, 
and  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  the  power  of 
His  Christ.  And  He  shall  reign  for  ever 
and  ever.  For  the  accuser  of  the  brethren 
is  cast  down ;  and  the  prince  of  this  world 
has  been  exposed  and  judged.' 


CHAPTER    IV 

GAIN    IN    EVOKING    A    CHRISTIAN    LIFE 
AND    EXPERIENCE 


Unless  above  himself  he  can 

Erect  himself,  how  mean  a  thing  is  man  ! 

'  Ah  ! '     Nature  cries,  '  that  strife  divine 
Whence  was  it,  for  it  is  not  mine  ? ' 

The  Spirit  of  truth,  Whom  the  world  cannot  receive,  because  it 
seeth  Him  not,  neither  knoweth  Him  :  but  ye  know  Him  ;  for  He 
dwelleth  with  you,  and  shall  be  in  you  .  .  .  Because  I  live,  ye 
shall  live  also. — John  xiv.  17,  19. 

Howbeit  when  He,  the  Spirit  of  truth,  is  come.  He  will  guide 
you  into  all  the  truth  :  for  He  shall  not  speak  of  Himself  .  .  .  He 
shall  glorify  Me :  for  He  shall  receive  of  Mine,  and  shall  show 
it  unto  you. — John  xvi.  13,  14. 


CHAPTER   IV 

GAIN    IN   EVOKING    A   CHRISTIAN   LIFE 
AND    EXPERIENCE 

What  is  it  that  excites  thought  and  feeling  in 
our  souls  ?  What  is  it  that  constitutes  know- 
ledge and  experience  in  us  ?  People  in  every 
age  have  put  these  and  similar  questions  to 
themselves,  and  have  often  waited  in  vain  for 
an  answer. 

We  know  how  powerfully  moved  and  excited 
we  are  by  things  around  us,  by  what  we  see, 
hear,  or  touch,  by  what  we  eat,  drink,  and 
come  in  contact  with.  Our  environment  does 
most  powerfully  stir  and  animate  us.  The 
spirit  of  the  age  in  which  we  live,  the  society 
in  which  we  move,  the  mental,  moral,  and  reli- 
gious atmosphere  we  habitually  breathe,  do  not 
all  these  not  only  influence,  but  may  at  times 
most  powerfully  arouse  and  stimulate  us  ?  Of 
course  it  is  life  and  its  potencies  that  underlie 
all  of  this,  and  render  any  such  experiences  and 

175 


176    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

energetic  activities  possible.  And  life  is  a 
thing  infinitely  varied  and  capable  of  innumer- 
able modifications.  We  speak  of  physical, 
animal,  and  vegetable  life,  of  individual, 
social,  and  political  life,  of  mental,  moral,  and 
religious  life — and  all  these  forms  and  condi- 
tions of  life  have  their  own  phenomena  and 
experiences,  very  diverse  in  their  manifestations 
from  one  another.     Yet  we  think  of: 

(i)  The  fact  of  an  invisible  spiritual  life  and 
its  experiences.  Higher  spiritual  phenomena 
and  experiences  are  no  more  to  be  denied,  as 
actual,  albeit  inward  and  hidden,  realities  than 
any  others  of  a  more  concrete  order.  There 
is  an  actual  spiritual  life  which  the  visible 
creation  can  neither  reveal  nor  share.  This 
spiritual  life  is,  no  doubt,  a  great  mystery,  just 
as  the  vegetable  or  animal  life  is.  We  may 
not  be  able  to  define  exactly  what  it  is,  nor  hoiv 
it  is  in  itself,  but  who  can  deny  that  it  is,  any 
more  in  the  one  case  than  in  the  other?  Like 
ordinary  animal,  vegetable,  mental,  or  other 
life,  spiritual  life  may  be  known  and  demon- 
strated by  its  phenomena  or  manifestations. 

And,  like  all  other  life,  the  spiritual  Christian 
life  may  be  expressed  in  paradoxical  form. 
*  Ye    are  dead,'   says  an  apostle,^    *  and    your 

'  Coloss.  iii.  3. 


GAIN  IN  EXPERIENCE         17T 

life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God.'  It  seems  and 
sounds  a  contradiction — '  ye  are  dead,  and  your 
life  ' — but  it  is  the  contradiction  or  paradox  of 
all  life.  *  Ye  are  dead '  in  this  case  '  to  sin,' 
but  '  alive  unto  righteousness.'  Ye  are  dead 
or  comparatively  indifferent  now  to  sin's 
pleasures  and  deceitful  promises  ;  dead  alike 
to  its  guilt,  curse,  domination,  and  fascinating 
spell,  because  you  are  now  alive  and  awake  to 
the  delights  and  influences  of  other  and  very 
different  pleasures,  pursuits,  and  prospects. 
Faith,  and  hope,  and  love  have  been  aroused 
and  called  forth  to  objects  worthy  of  their  best 
efforts.  A  new  and  better  life  throbs  and 
thrills  within  your  being ;  and  you  have 
experiences  now  that  detach  you  from  the 
mere  lust  of  visible  and  material  things, 
however  good  and  desirable  in  their  own 
proper  place  and  measure,  but  that  must  not 
for  a  moment  come  into  known  and  felt  com- 
petition with  the  Christ  of  God  and  His  claims 
and  calls.  You  see  now  things  very  different 
from  before ;  you  hear  another  voice ;  you 
respond  to  another  set  of  influences  ;  in  a 
word,  you  have  awakened  to  a  new  and  other 
life,  a  '  life  that  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God.' 

And,  like  all  life,  this  life  is  invisible — '  hid 
with  Christ ' — finding  its  source  and  origin,  its 

12 


178    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

sustenance  and  supplies,  its  supports  and 
satisfactions,  in  an  invisible  Christ.  What  a 
gain  to  such  a  life  and  to  its  experiences  is  to 
be  found  and  felt  in  the  very  invisibleness  of 
Christ,  Whom  we  no  longer  seek  to  know  after 
the  flesh,  but  after  the  spirit !  '  Yea,  though 
we  have  known  Christ  after  the  flesh,  yet 
henceforth  know  we  Him  so  no  more.' 

(ii)  jy^^  invisible  source  and  origin  of  spiritual 
life  and  eocperience.  Thus  spiritual  life,  like 
all  other  kinds  of  life  which  we  know,  is 
necessarily  hid  in  its  source  and  origin,  so  that 
an  invisible  Christ,  far  from  derogating  from 
its  reality,  is  rather  a  guarantee  and  assured 
aid  toward  its  birth.  The  most  real  of  all 
realities,  and  the  most  potent  and  resistless 
of  all  forces,  even  ordinary  life  itself  in  its 
beginnings,  entirely  eludes  our  outward  gaze 
and  search,  scientific  or  otherwise. 

Coming  as  we  do  into  this  world  endowed 
with  the  life  by  virtue  of  which  we  hear, 
see,  think,  feel,  will,  and  act,  we  know  it  in  its 
manifest  evidences  and  the  palpable  proofs  it 
affords  of  its  reality,  but  we  are  baffled  in 
every  attempt  to  descry  its  fontal  secret  or 
peer  with  outward  eye  upon  its  rise.  Only 
we  may  note  how  the  idea  that  life  alone 
can  produce  life   or  that  there  is  no  life  but 


GAIN  IN  EXPERIENCE         179 

from  antecedent  life — is  that  scientific  doctrine 
of  biogenesis  now  triumphant  along  the  whole 
line  of  modern  inquiry,  as  it  has  ever  been 
a  foremost  deliverance  of  the  revealing  word 
of  God,  Who  *  breathed  into  man's  nostrils  the 
breath  of  life,  and  man  became  a  living  soul.' 
So  the  seal  of  silence  was  long  ago  broken ; 
and  we  find  it  repeated  in  the  now  easily 
believable  word,  '  Because  I  live,  ye  shall  live 
also.' 

And  as  physical  life  and  activity  begin  with 
physical  birth,  so  spiritual  life  begins  with 
spiritual  birth.  *  Except  a  man  be  born  again 
[or,  from  above],  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of 
God.'  So  Jesus,  at  the  very  outset  of  His 
conversation  with  Nicodemus,  starts  from  this 
first  beginning,  '  Marvel  not  that  I  said  unto 
thee,  Vou  must  be  born  again'  And  the  reason 
of  this  vital  necessity  is  at  once  given,  *  Because 
that  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh,"  and  only 
*  whatever  is  born  of  the  spirit  is  spirit'  Not 
that  this  spiritual  change  is  a  change  in  the 
substance,  constitution,  or  structure  of  the 
spirit,  any  more  than  our  physical  birth  infers  a 
change  in  the  substance  or  structure  of  the  yet 
unborn  body.  It  is  a  divinely  effected  and 
entire  change  in  the  whole  disposition  and  bent 
of  the  inner  nature,  creating  and  awaking  new 


180    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

tastes,  new  cravings,  new  views,  new  habits — in 
a  word,  new  life  and  a  new  state  of  being. 
Not  any  mere  refined  unfolding  or  develop- 
ment of  the  nature  by  mental  culture  or  moral 
training,  but  the  implanting  of  a  new  seed 
or  germinal  principle  of  a  higher  and  better 
style  of  life. 

Just  as  when  the  creeping  caterpillar  has  to 
leave  its  earthly  fare  and  find  its  food  in  the 
nectar  of  flowers,  it  not  only  undergoes  a 
wonderful  metamorphosis  in  its  state  and 
condition,  but  there  are  implanted  at  the  same 
time  in  its  being  new  instincts,  tastes,  and 
habits  that  make  it  play  in  harmony  with  its 
new  sphere.  It  is  life — the  same  and  yet  not 
the  same — no  longer  the  creeping  caterpillar 
life,  but  it  is  seen  to  be  the  new  insect  life  with 
wings  and  flying  power  quite  different  from 
what  it  was  in  its  former  condition. 

And  when  people  say,  '  There,  that  is  life,' 
they  can  only  point  to  visible  proofs  or  mani- 
festations of  it,  but  never  to  the  hidden  mystic 
thing  itself.  A  child  strips  leaf  after  leaf  from 
a  rose-bud,  but  never  comes  to  the  vital  force, 
the  secret  life  of  the  rose.  You  may  see  the 
living  sap  rising  in  the  tree  and  find  its  results 
in  leaf  and  blossom,  but  the  life  itself  eludes 
you.      Life  is  everywhere  the  shyest  of  things. 


GAIN  IN  EXPERIENCE         181 

*  The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth,  and  thou 
hearest  the  sound  thereof,  but  canst  not  tell 
whence  it  cometh  or  whither  it  goeth,  so  is 
every  one  born  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit.' 
Who  can  catch  the  auspicious  moment  when 
the  new  life  starts  into  being,  or  at  what 
moment  the  Spirit  breathes  invisibly,  secretly, 
yet  effectively  into  the  soul  ?  Men  may  know 
when  perhaps  they  first  became  conscious  of 
new  views  and  convictions,  spiritual  feelings, 
desires,  aspirations,  and  resolves — these  are  but 
the  tokens  and  evidences  that  speak  of  the 
presence  of  life. 

And  as  many  know  not  and  had  no  con- 
sciousness of  the  date  or  hmcr  of  their  actual 
birth — for  at  best  this  is  but  a  matter  of 
testimony  by  others — yet  they  may  be  sure 
themselves,  and  can  furnish  to  others  ample 
and  unmistakable  evidences  of  the  fact  and 
reality  of  their  being  alive,  so  may  many 
furnish  evidences  of  the  life  of  the  Spirit 
within  them  clear  and  cogent,  yet  'cannot 
tell '  by  what  acts  or  at  what  moment  the 
soft  and  invisible  breathing  of  the  Spirit  first 
set  up  or  initiated  the  new  spring-time  of 
Divine  life  in  the  soul. 

(iii)   The  invisible  method  and  agency  in  true 
Christian  life  and  experience.     All  agree  that 


182    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

both  the  agent  and  the  means  He  employs 
are  invisible  and  spiritual.  If  we  are  '  born 
of  the  Spirit,'  we  are  no  less  '  born  again  not 
of  corruptible  seed,  but  of  incorruptible,  by  the 
word  of  God,  which  liveth  and  abideth  for 
ever.'  Similarly  it  is  said,  *  Unless  a  man  be 
born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  see 
the  kingdom  of  God.'  We  cannot  think  this 
is  the  water  of  baptism,  but  rather  that  the 
water  here  referred  to  and  the  water  of 
Christian  baptism  refer  to  a  third  thing  with 
which  Nicodemus  was  familiar,  and  of  which 
Jesus  immediately  proceeds  to  afford  an  ex- 
planation. To  every  intelligent  and  devout 
Jew  water  was  the  name  for  the  cleansing 
power,  ceremonially,  of  the  sin-ofFering  or 
sacrifice  of  propitiation  and  atonement  when 
applied  to  the  individual.  Hence  our  Lord 
immediately  goes  on  to  explain  the  connection 
between  this  birth  by  '  water  and  the  Spirit,' 
and  His  own  expiation  for  sin,  *  As  Moses 
lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness,  so 
must  the  Son  of  Man  also  be  lifted  up,  that 
whosoever  believeth  in  Him  should  .  .  .  have 
everlasting  life' 

There  is  not,  never  has  been,  never  can  be, 
this  life  Divine  in  any  soul,  apart  from  Christ's 
cross    or    atoning  death.      Jesus   makes   this 


GAIN  IN  EXPERIENCE  183 

plain  to  Nicodemus  in  letting  him  know 
*  how  a  man  can  be  born  anew  when  he  is 
old.'  The  living  water,  the  real  water  of  life, 
can  never  be  dissociated  in  its  spring  and 
source  from  His  own  uplifting  on  the  cross. 
If  you  must  be  born  again,  not  less  'must 
the  Son  of  Man  be  lifted  up.'  Thence  flows 
the  regenerative  power  or  quickening  element 
that  becomes  the  '  well  of  water  springing  up 
into  everlasting  life.'  And  it  is  the  truth 
concerning  Christ's  atoning  and  righteousness- 
procuring  death  that  in  the  hand  of  the  Spirit 
is  the  effective  instrument  for  producing  this 
life,  as  it  is  the  one  alone  channel  along  which 
the  agency  of  the  Spirit  is  sent  forth.  All 
spiritual  life  flows  from  Christ's  atoning  death, 
and  we  can  '  only  have  life  through  His  name.' 
We  are  born  again  thus  by  the  voater  of  the 
Word — by  the  efficacy  of  Christ's  own  blood 
in  its  sin-cleansing,  life-imparting  virtue,  when 
applied  through  the  Word  by  the  quickening 
Spirit.  For  while  life  comes  from  Christ 
alone,  it  is  the  Spirit  that  quickeneth ;  for 
the  Spirit  alone  imparteth  or  giveth  life  by 
directly  and  immediately  bringing  the  in- 
dividual soul  into  living  contact  and  union 
with  a  life-bringing  Saviour.  All  this  is 
effected  in  the  simple  receiving  of  the  truth, 


184    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

as  it  is  symbolically  set  forth  in  baptism,  the 
very  model  and  exemplification  as  it  is  of 
the  method  of  unition  to  Christ.  So  baptism 
is  salvation  as  in  a  figure,  through  the 
double  cure  of  Christ's  work  and  the  Spirit's 
agency. 

The  power  used  and  called  into  play  by 
the  life-giving  regenerating  Spirit  is  never  in 
Scripture  represented  as  the  water  of  baptism, 
but  always  as  that  third  thing,  of  which  the 
water  in  baptism  and  the  water  of  which 
Jesus  spake  to  Nicodemus  alike  speak — the 
life-giving  virtue  of  Christ's  expiatory  work  as 
applied  through  faith  in  the  truth  of  the 
Gospel  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  whose  office  must 
never  be  dissociated  or  divorced  from  that  one 
source  of  spiritual  or  eternal  life  in  Christ, 
Who  alone  is  '  our  life.' 

(iv)  The  invisible  support  and  nutriment  of 
this  life.  It  is  maintained  on  invisible  supplies 
and  sustenance.  It  can  draw  upon  upper 
invisible  resources,  as  the  water-spider,  which 
cannot  depend  on  the  water  alone  in  the 
midst  of  which  it  lives  and  moves  and  does 
its  work,  can  come  to  the  surface,  and  by  a 
wonderful  operation  of  its  breathing  apparatus 
can  lay  hold  upon  a  portion  of  atmosphere 
and   carry  the   globule   along  with   it   under 


GAIN  IN  EXPERIENCE  185 

the  water  till  the  supply  is  exhausted,  when 
it  goes  up  for  more.  For  a  necessary  con- 
dition to  every  kind  of  life  is  a  constant  supply 
of  appropriate  sustenance  and  nutriment. 
Vegetable  and  animal  life  are  both  subject 
to  this  law.  No  vegetable  life  can  thrive 
nor  long  subsist  without  suitable  soil,  sunshine, 
rain,  and  atmosphere.  No  animal  life  can 
go  on  without  its  own  sustaining  supplies. 
The  mind  must  have  its  food  and  the  heart 
must  have  its  nourishment.  JNIuch  more  the 
spiritual  life  requires  its  own  special  nourish- 
ment, or  it  must  die.  It  feeds  by  faith  on 
the  invisible  Saviour,  Who  says,  'And  because 
I  live,  ye  shall  live  also.'  What  hght,  and 
soil,  and  moisture  are  to  plant-life,  what 
bread  is  to  our  own  physical  being,  that  Christ 
is  to  the  spiritual  nature — absolutely  indis- 
pensable. 

It  is  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus — all  the 
truth  in  Him  into  which  the  Spirit  leads  us — 
that  is  the  nutriment  to  our  souls. 

It  is  not  so  much  the  doctrines,  but  Himself 
— Who  is  the  very  truth  in  all  His  doctrine — 
Whom  the  Spirit  leads  us  to  understand  and 
graciously  appreciate  and  appropriate.  To  be 
a  real  or  spiritual  Christian  is  not,  therefore, 
simply  to  assent  to  certain  doctrines,  but  to 


186    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

receive  Christ  Himself  Whom  the  doctrines 
set  forth  and  enclose.  How  possible  for  us 
to  be  conversant  with  Christian  doctrine,  to 
have  a  clear  apprehension  of  the  scheme  of 
redemption  and  the  whole  of  the  theoretic 
ideas  of  saving  truth,  and  be  able  to  give 
even  an  exact  statement  of  these  in  all  their 
parts  and  relations,  and  yet  not  be  feeding 
the  soul  upon  the  Christ  that  is  in  them ! 
There  is  a  difference  between  the  intellectually 
perceiving  of  the  truth  and  the  sanctifyingly 
and  savingly  receiving  of  it.  Truth  is  to  be 
welcomed  not  simply  as  a  pleasant  object  of 
thought,  but  as  a  living  and  life-nourishing 
power.  It  is  not  only  to  be  a  light  to  the 
eye,  but  a  lamp  to  the  path  ;  not  only  some- 
thing to  gaze  at  or  inquire  into,  but  to 
entertain,  utilize,  and  turn  to  saving  and 
spiritual  account. 

For  the  Spirit  Who  commends  Christ  Jesus 
to  the  soul  is  the  *  Spirit  of  truth,'  Who  creates 
and  awakens  a  passion  for  truth  and  a  love  for 
the  truth,  and  Who  detaches  and  withdraws 
us  from  the  kingdom  of  deceit  and  from  all 
the  evil  and  tricky  devices  familiar  to  him 
that  has  been  a  har  from  the  beginning. 

And  the  method  used  by  the  Spirit  of 
truth  is  not  driving  or  forcing,  but  *  leading,' 


GAIN  IN  EXPERIENCE         187 

*  guiding,'  by  winning  ways  and  by  persistently 
pointing  to  the  truth  and  commendingly  inter- 
preting it.  When  we  gaze  upon  a  picture  we 
may  for  ourselves  see  much  that  is  beautiful 
and  attractive  in  its  mode  of  exhibiting  colour, 
form,  and  expression.  But  to  understand  the 
inner  meaning  of  the  picture  and  appreciate 
its  main  purpose  and  idea,  we  may  need  some 
skilled  interpreter  to  open  our  eyes  to  its  most 
vital  and  inherent  excellencies.  The  Holy 
Spirit  is  such  a  guide  to  the  Saviour  and  such 
an  interpreter  and  revealer  of  the  true  grace 
and  glory  of  Jesus  Christ  in  His  purpose  and 
mission  into  this  world. 

It  is  He  Who  illumines  the  mind  by  casting 
fresh  and  interesting  light  upon  the  truth  ;  it 
is  He  Who  opens  the  eyes  to  the  true  meaning 
and  aims  of  Christ's  words  and  work  by  fur- 
nishing insight  into  them,  and  not  only 
enabling  us  to  realize  their  true  inwardness, 
but  their  vital  importance — giving  an  attrac- 
tiveness to  them  and  a  fascinating  interest  in 
them  to  our  yearning  and  wondering  heart  and 
mind.  He  warms  the  nature  into  enthusiastic 
love  and  attachment  to  '  truth,'  and  He  makes 
the  truth  itself  glow  with  a  new  lustre  to  the 
enraptured  nature,  just  as  in  making  a  deep 
and  abiding  impression  we  may  heat  both  the 


188    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

wax  and  the  stamp  itself  in  applying  the 
sealing  power.  And  so  the  mind  gets  *  filled 
with  sacred  truth,  the  heart  with  sacred  fire,' 
at  one  and  the  same  moment  and  by  one 
and  the  same  means. 

All  the  truth  that  the  Spirit  uses  is  already 
set  forth  in  Jesus,  in  His  life  and  work,  in  His 
character  and  death.  '  I  am  the  truth,'  says 
Jesus ;  but  He  also  says,  '  He,  the  Spirit  of 
truth,  shall  teach  you.'  For  we  need  an  inward 
vision,  a  spiritual  discernment,  a  sanctified 
purpose,  without  which  the  veil  remains 
unremoved  from  our  heart.  This  spiritual 
Teacher  brings  no  new  truth  of  His  own, 
nor  does  He  speak  and  testify  of  Himself, 
but  He  keeps  Himself  rather  in  the  back- 
ground, and  does  not  withdraw  our  attention 
to  Himself;  His  one  aim  being  to  present, 
recommend,  and  glorify  Christ  the  Lord. 

Thus  Christ's  words  which  are  received  as 
containing  Himself  become  spirit  and  life  to 
our  souls.  *  I  am  the  living  bread  which  came 
down  out  of  heaven,  and  by  your  feeding  on 
My  atoning  sacrifice.  My  flesh  is  bread  indeed, 
and  My  blood  drink  indeed,'  and  then  all  our 
acts  are  acts  of  faith  in  Him  as  One  sacrificed 
for  us.  Believe  on  Him,  and  thus  thou  eatest. 
And  so  it  is  written,  '  This  is  the  will  of  My 


GAIN  IN  EXPERIENCE         189 

Father,  that  every  one  that  beheveth  on  Me 
shall  have  eternal  life.'  ^ 

(v)  The  experimental  witness  of  this  invisible 
spiritiud  life.  There  are  certain  blessings 
received  from  the  conscious  exercise  and 
forth-putting  of  the  powers  of  this  life,  of 
which  all  who  are  partakers  are  more  or  less 
aware.  In  proportion  as  they  walk  in  the 
Spirit  and  live  in  the  Spirit  they  have  a 
witness  within  themselves  that  they  are  born 
of  God ;  they  enjoy  a  spirit  of  adoption 
whereby  they  think  of  and  speak  to  God  as 
their  reconciled  Father,  Whom  they  reverence 
and  obey,  but  of  Whom  they  do  not  stand  in 
terror,  so  long  as  they  do  what  is  pleasing  in 
His  sight.  Their  state  is  one  of  living,  loving 
union  and  communion  with  their  Lord,  to 
Whose  fulness  they  have  access,  and  out  of 
which  they  are  continually  being  replenished. 
The  more  they  draw  on  Him  for  holiness, 
peace,  comfort,  and  joy,  they  find  the  more 
in  Him  to  draw  upon.  Like  the  rooted  vine- 
stem.  He  alone  contains  and  conveys  the 
fruitful  and  fructifying  sap.  They  are  to  be 
so  branched  in  Him  as  not  to  have  a  mere 
outward  or  nominal  connection,  but  a  fruitful 
and  vital  one — the  whole  fibres  and  vesicles 

1  John  vi.  40. 


190    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

of  their  spiritual  nature  striking  deep  down 
into  the  hidden  fibres  and  vesicles  of  His 
being,  so  that  the  sap  of  His  grace  shall 
pass  over  into  them,  and  not  only  they  abide 
in  Him,  but  in  such  a  sense  as  that  He  shall 
be  found  also  abiding  and  working  in  them. 
This  is  His  real,  albeit  spiritual  presence 
within  us. 

Here  are  the  springs  of  all  holy  instincts, 
dispositions,  and  activities,  whereby  we  are 
delivered  from  the  death  of  sin  to  the  life 
of  righteousness.  The  spirit  of  a  holy  life  is 
never  detached  from  evangelical  impulses  and 
principles,  from  entireness  of  self-surrender 
and  self-consecration.  Thus  the  Spirit  helps 
us  to  realize  Christ's  constant,  inward,  abiding 
presence,  and  He  brings  in  upon  us  the  com- 
forting and  hallowing  assurance  of  the  Divine 
love  and  favour,  according  as  we  are  living 
and  walking  in  the  Spirit  and  getting  filled 
with  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Comforter. 

To  attain  to  some  measure  of  this  assurance 
— an  assurance  of  knowledge,  of  faith,  and  of 
hope — is  a  matter  of  duty  no  less  than  of 
privileged  experience.  Realizing  in  them- 
selves some  unmistakable  fruits  of  the  Spirit, 
such  as  *  joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  gentleness, 
goodness,  faithfulness,  meekness,  temperance,' 


GAIN  IN  EXPERIENCE         191 

they  feel  entitled,  without  being  chargeable 
with  any  vain  confidence,  to  appropriate  and 
apply  to  themselves  such  words  of  personal 
conviction  as,  '  The  Lord  is  3Iy  Shepherd,' 
'  Thou  knowest  that  /  love  Thee,'  or,  *  I  know 
whom  I  have  believed,  and  am  persuaded  He 
is  able  to  keep  that  for  me  which  I  have 
committed  to  His  trust.'  The  very  sting  of 
death  is  extracted,  and  its  terrors  no  longer 
keep  the  soul  in  thrall.  So  the  dying  saint, 
falling  back  at  last  as  at  first  into  the  arms 
of  a  glorified  Redeemer,  breathes  out  His 
soul  in  fidelity,  meekness,  and  hope,  saying 
in  fearless  triumph,  *  Into  Thy  hands  I  com- 
mend my  spirit.' 

(vi)  The  working  tests  of  this  invisible  life. 
Life  must  sooner  or  later  show  itself  and 
become  aware  of  itself  by  suitable  efforts  and 
visible  evidences  and  manifestations.  It  is 
Christ  Himself  Who  is  the  final  touchstone 
here.  How  we  stand  related  to  Him  in  our 
character  and  conduct,  in  our  principles  and 
practice,  is  the  determining  factor.  We  must 
submit  to  have  applied  to  us  by  ourselves  and 
others  those  tests  demanded  as  requisites  by 
which  all  the  world  may  know  whether  or  not 
our  disposition  and  life  be  truly  Christian. 
No  man  can  own  and  take  Jesus  for  his  Lord 


192    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

save  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  It  is  one  of  the 
main  purposes  for  which  the  invisible  Saviour 
is  revealed  in  this  word,  that  we  may  make 
Him  as  there  exhibited  the  one  supreme 
gauge  and  standard  of  our  being,  whereby 
to  try  ourselves  and  judge  of  the  reality  of 
our  spiritual  life. 

For  it  is  only  as  Christ  thus  made  known 
to  us  becomes  the  supreme  truth  and  light  to 
our  minds,  the  supreme  authority  to  our 
consciences,  the  supreme  master  to  our  wills, 
the  supreme  object  to  our  love  and  affections, 
and  the  supreme  joy  and  rejoicing  to  our  hearts, 
that  we  are  entitled  to  conclude  that  we  are 
born  of  His  Spirit  and  have  Himself  by  His 
Spirit  abiding  in  us.  If  I  take  Him  to  be 
my  Lord  and  Master,  the  final  law  of  my 
being,  with  supreme  right  to  order  and  com- 
mand and  with  supreme  title  to  my  obedience — 
whose  voice  I  hear  and  habitually  follow  ;  to 
Whom  alone  I  flee  for  all  He  offers  to  do  and 
be  to  me  as  my  Saviour,  my  prophet,  priest, 
and  king  ;  AVhom  I  worship  and  adore  in  my 
inmost  heart ;  to  Whom  above  all  else  I  cleave 
and  heartily  yield  myself ;  and  Whom  I  impli- 
citly trust  and  serve  with  integrity  of  purpose, 
in  spite  of  my  own  manifold  and  multiplied 
wickednesses,  blind  stumblings,  and  sad  short- 


GAIN  EXPERIENCE  193 

comings,  then  may  I  conclude  myself  to  be  in 
living  contact  with  the  Spirit  of  Christian  light 
and  life,  of  love  and  liberty.  Christ  thus 
ruling  in  us  is  the  one  sure  test  of  the  Spirit's 
presence  in  power.  This  is  the  only  true 
religion,  this  is  the  only  vital  godliness,  this  is 
the  only  positive  Christianity — we  so  in  Christ 
as  that  He  is  abiding  in  us  the  power  and 
principle  of  the  higher  life  and  the  hope  of 
everlasting  glory. 

Then  may  we  hopefully  assure  both  ourselves 
and  others  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  with 
us  and  in  us  of  a  truth,  the  true  and  supreme 
object  of  our  faith,  our  hope  and  our  love. 
For  the  one  main  line  along  which  the  Holy 
Spirit  operates  in  our  spirits  effectually  is  by 
calling  into  daily  exercise  the  three  great 
sovereign  graces  that  befit  and  adorn  the  spirit- 
ual experience.  To  keep  us  close  to  Christ 
and  Christ  close  to  us,  is  the  constant  effort 
and  highest  triumph  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  us 
as  against  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil. 
Associated  with  the  invisible  Redeemer  in 
ineffable  union,  we  by  faith  draw  upon  the  past 
in  all  He  has  done  and  suffered  for  us ;  and 
while  realizing  the  blessed  hope  of  His  final 
appearing  as  a  great  fact  which  we  import  into 
the  present,  we  wait,  watch,  and  work  for  Him. 

13 


194    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

Occupying  till  He  come,  and  acting  as  stewards 
for  Him  in  His  absence,  and  guardians  of  His 
credit,  honour,  and  goods,  we  lovingly  sanctify 
Him  in  our  hearts,  and  are  ready  ever  to  give 
faithful  attendance  on  His  service.  So  may  I 
conclude  humbly  yet  confidently  that  I  am 
verily  His  and  He  is  mine  for  evermore. 


PART  III 

CHAPTER   I 
THE   GAIN   TO   FAITH 


The  childlike  faith  that  asks  not  sight. 
Nor  seeks  for  wonder  or  for  sign, 

Believes  because  it  loves  aright, 

Shall  see  things  greater,  things  Divine. 

Jesus  CJhrist,  in  Whom,  though  at  present  you  cannot  see,  you 
nevertheless  believe  .  .  .  securing  the  outcome  of  your  faith,  the 
salvation  of  your  souls. — 1  Pet.  i.  8,  9. 

Jesus  saith  :  Blessed  are  they  that  have  not  seen,  and  yet 
have  believed. — John  xx.  29. 


CHAPl^ER    I 
THE    GAIN    TO    FAITH 

'  Seeing  is  believing,'  but  it  is  not  believing 
much.  To  believe  only  what  we  see  or 
only  because  we  see  it,  would  be  an  enormous 
restriction  on  common  knowledge,  and  would 
cut  us  off  from  vast  territories  of  the  real 
and  knowable.  For,  after  all,  the  most 
important  part  of  our  knowledge  respects 
what  we  believe,  not  what  we  see. 

The  things  in  daily  life  we  get  at  by 
believing  apart  from  the  evidence  of  sight 
are  far  more  in  number  and  momentousness 
than  those  of  which  we  can  claim  the  evidence 
of  our  own  eyesight. 

And  Jesus  here  declares  the  blessedness  of 
attaining  belief  in  Himself  without  making 
any  demand  on  the  evidence  that  depends 
on  our  own  individual  outer  eyesight  for 
confirmation  or  assurance. 

Before  dealing,  however,  with  the  warrant 
197 


198    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

or  ground  for  believing  in  Him  without 
having  seen  Him,  or  the  blessed  contents 
which  such  faith  alone  can  enjoy  ably  ex- 
perience, or  the  happy  fruits  of  it  upon 
others,  we  may  consider  briefly  (i)  the  nature 
of  such  believing  in  Jesus  as  is  here  com- 
manded. 

Believing  in  Jesus  is  putting  trust  in  Him 
to  be  and  to  do  for  us  what  He  says.  Such 
trust  is  not  a  mere  exercise  of  the  intellect, 
though  it  starts  with  and  necessarily  implies 
that.  But  it  is  no  less  an  exercise  of  con- 
science and  heart,  for  trust  is  impossible 
without  ethical  emotion ;  and  it  further  in- 
volves choice  and  exercise  of  the  renewed 
will.  There  are  difficulty  and  ambiguity 
and  variety  in  the  meaning  or  application 
of  all  very  significant  words,  just  because  of 
the  impossibility  of  putting  into  language  all 
the  marvellous  phases  of  delicate  thought 
of  which  the  mind  is  capable.  Hence  the 
varieties  of  meaning  attached  or  attachable 
to  such  a  word  as  faith  or  belief.  Sometimes 
it  means  simply  believing,  or  intelligently 
accepting  what  is  time ;  but  sometimes  it 
means  much  more — it  means  trust,  confiding- 
ness,  reliance.  For  example,  '  Thou  believest 
there  is  one  God  .  .  .  the  devils  also  believe 


THE    GAIN   TO   FAITH  199 

this,  and  tremble,'^  and  *  Jesus  did  not  trust 
[commit]  Himself  unto  them  ...  for  He 
knew  what  was  in  man.'  ^  It  is  the  same  word 
in  the  original,  but  '  believing '  and  '  trusting,' 
though  right  translations  of  the  very  same 
term,  have  not  and  cannot  have  the  same 
significance  in  the  above  two  passages.  One 
while  it  means  simply  belief,  credit,  or 
assent  to  what  is  accepted  as  true ;  but  in 
another  connection  it  goes  farther,  and 
signifies  tritst,  affiance,  conjidiiigness.  Belief 
is  simply  in  itself  an  exercise  of  the  intellect. 
But  trust,  though  necessarily  including  that, 
is  an  exercise  of  the  whole  moral  nature ;  it 
is  an  exercise  of  heart  and  conscience,  and 
no  less  also  of  will. 

In  old  English  the  word  belief  was  used 
in  both  senses  ;  but  now  it  is  confined  to 
the  sense  merely  of  intellectual  credit  or 
assent,  except  it  be  followed  by  in  or  on. 
Thus  believing  Christ  is  assenting  to  what 
He  says :  but  believing  in  or  on  Him  is 
really  trust  or  reliance.  There  is  a  great 
difference  between  these  two  states  of  mind. 
Belief  is  a  simple  intellectual  condition :  a 
mere  method  of  attaining  knowledge  where 
seeing   with   the  outward  eye   is   not   within 

»  James  ii.  19.  '  John  ii.  24,  25. 


200    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

our  reach.  Most  of  our  knowledge  respects 
what  we  beheve,  and  not  what  we  see.  We 
beheve,  for  example,  that  William  IV. 
reigned  just  before  Queen  Victoria,  and  that 
the  orbit  of  the  earth  is  elliptical.  But  trust 
is  more  than  belief  of  what  we  deem  true  ; 
it  is  a  desij^e  for  what  we  deem  good  for  us, 
and  a  choice  of  what  we  deem  right  for  us  to 
choose.  We  may  believe  a  great  deal  that 
is  true,  for  example,  of  a  physician ;  but 
not  feeling  we  need  him,  we  do  not  seek  or 
desire  his  services,  and  do  not  entrust  our- 
selves as  patients  to  him.  We  may  believe 
that  a  plank  across  a  stream  is  strong  enough 
to  bear  our  weight,  that  it  has  been  put 
there  for  our  use,  and  that  we  are  welcome 
to  use  it  for  crossing ;  but  until  we  desire 
to  cross  and  choose  actually  to  cross,  we 
do  not  trust  the  plank ;  we  trust  it  not 
until  we  in  fact  use  it  and  commit  ourselves 
to  it. 

So  Christ  addresses  Himself  not  simply  to 
the  intellect,  but  to  the  conscience,  affections, 
and  will — to  the  whole  of  our  personal  re- 
sponsible being.  In  short,  there  are  doctrines 
and  truths  to  be  believed,  promised  blessings 
to  be  desired  and  chosen,  and  precepts  and 
injunctions  to  be  given  heed  to  and  heartily 


THE    GAIN    TO   FAITH  201 

obeyed  and  observed.  *  This  is  the  will  of 
Him  that  sent  Me,'  says  Jesus  Himself,  '  that 
every  one  who  sees  the  Son  [not  outwardly, 
but  with  inward  believing  eye  of  intelligent 
understanding  and  appreciation]  and  trusts 
Him  should  have  eternal  life.'  '  This  is  the 
work  of  God  [that  is,  the  services  vchich 
God  requires]  that  you  trust  to  Him  Whom 
He  hath  sent.'  Thus  *  without  faith  it  is  impos- 
sible to  please  God  ' — and  indeed,  as  already 
said,  it  were  the  greatest  insult  to  a  fellow  man 
to  tell  him  you  do  not  believe  in  him ;  you 
have  no  faith  in  him ;  you  do  not  trust 
him.  And  so  we  are  prepared  for  this 
great  word,  '  Blessed  are  they  that  have  not 
seen,  and  yet  have  trusted  ' — that  is,  they 
who  credit  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  who 
desire  and  delight  in  the  redemptive  good 
He  contains  and  conveys,  and  who  commit 
themselves  to  and  rely  on  Him  for  salvation 
and  its  benefits. 

(ii)  Similarly  the  word  *  blessed  '  has  three 
closely  related  yet  distinctive  applications  or 
shades  of  meaning. 

{a)  Worthy  of  p?riise,  as  when  we  say, 
'  Blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord.' 

(b)  Accounted  happy,  as  when  we  say, 
'Blessed  are  all  they  who  trust  in  Him.' 


202    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

(c)  Made  a  blessing,  as  when  we  speak  of 
the  blessed  hope  (Titus  ii.  13). 

In  all  these  senses  are  they  blessed  whose 
trust  in  Christ  stands  independent  of  His 
visible  appearance — whose  faith  is  grounded 
on  better  evidence  than  sight  can  furnish, 
appropriates  grander  things  than  sight  can 
take  in,  and  attains  a  power  for  good  which 
sight  cannot  furnish. 

The  first  meaning  has  to  do  with  the  ground 
or  warj^ant  of  faith,  the  second  with  its  contents^ 
and  the  third  with  the  results  and  products. 
Worthy  of  praise  are  they  who  require  no 
outward  sight  of  Christ  to  justify  or  warrant 
their  faith  in  Him.  To  be  accounted  happy 
are  they  who  have  got  hold  of  blessings  in 
Christ  beyond  anything  that  outer  sight  can 
descry.  And  what  sou7Tes  arid  channels  oj 
blessing  are  they  whose  faith  toward  Christ 
stands  not  in  any  material  basis,  but  is  rooted 
and  settled  in  an  inward  experience  of  the 
things  of  Christ ! 

(a)  TFofihy  to  be  praised.  A  faith  worthy 
to  be  honoured  and  fit  to  be  commended  and 
accepted  is  a  faith  which  seeks  assurance  for 
itself,  not  in  the  region  of  outward  sight  at  all, 
but  of  moral  and  spiritual  insight. 

The  blessedness  here  spoken  of  is  not  the 


THE   GAIN    TO   FAITH  203 

prize  of  a  lofty  intellect  or  a  shrewd  mental 
apprehension,  but  of  a  sound  conscience,  or 
a  good  and  honest  heart.  A  right  intent  and 
not  a  vast  capacity  is  the  true  test  and  gauge 
of  praiseworthiness  in  such  a  case.  A  faith 
based  on  moral  considerations  chiefly  is  the 
blessed  faith  commended  here.  This  faith 
needs  no  ocular  demonstration,  for  it  grows 
out  of  attention  to  plain  and  simple  moral 
evidence,  on  which  it  mainly  leans,  and  on 
which  it  lays  most  stress.  And  therefore,  as 
such  faith  requires  an  action  of  the  moral 
nature  or  involves  an  operation  of  conscience 
and  will,  it  is  deserving  of  honour  and 
commendation. 

There  is  of  course  a  faith  to  which  no  moral 
worth  at  all  attaches  ;  a  faith  for  which  a  man 
is  no  more  accountable  than  for  his  height 
or  the  colour  of  his  skin ;  a  faith  purely 
instinctive,  irresistible,  unavoidable,  and  in- 
voluntary, which  a  man  cannot  help,  and  for 
which  he  is  not  answerable,  but  to  the  exercise 
of  which  no  credit  belongs. 

*  I  believe  only  where  there  is  no  room  for 
doubt,'  said  one  friend  to  another  ;  to  which 
his  neighbour  replied,  *  But  there  is  no  credit 
in  that ;  for  you  believe  only  what  you  cannot 
help  believing,  and  where  not  believing  would 


204     CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

mean  simple  idiocy  or  intellectual  imbecility.' 
No  praise  is  due  to  one  who  believes  any  self- 
evident  or  undeniable  truth — such  as  two  and 
two  make  four,  or  the  whole  is  greater  than 
a  part.  Great  censure,  no  doubt,  would  be 
incurred  by  any  one  playing  fast  and  loose 
with  such  convictions ;  by  any  one,  for  instance, 
who  being  assured  that  two  and  two  are  four, 
should  from  self-interest,  deceit,  or  greed  of 
gain  act  as  if  they  might  make  three  or  five. 
And  why  ?  Why,  but  because  in  such  a  case 
the  moral  nature  comes  into  play,  and  faithless- 
ness to  conviction  is  the  worst  form  of  dis- 
honest unbelief 

Now,  gospel  evidence,  like  all  gospel  truth, 
carries  in  its  bosom  a  moral  element  that  tests 
men's  moral  nature  or  disposition  ;  and  praise 
attaches  to  those  who  honour  this  evidence  by 
yielding  to  it,  and  loyally  accepting  it. 

The  idea  of  belief  meriting  praise  involves, 
however,  no  suggestion  that  it  merits  salvation  ; 
for  a  criminal  may  deserve  praise  for  telling 
the  truth  about  his  crime,  without  in  any  way 
deserving  pardon  or  immunity  from  the 
punishment  he  has  righteously  incurred. 

But  blessed  in  the  sense  of  worthy  of 
honour  are  they  who  have  faced  the  moral 
evidence   to  which    Christ   primarily  appeals, 


THE   GAIN   TO   FAITH  205 

and   who   have   conscientiously   weighed   and 
examined  it,  and  have  acted  accordingly.    .  For 
Christ  Himself  is  His  own  best  evidence  ;  and 
He  presents  Himself  to  men's  consciences  as 
He  did  at  Pilate's  bar,  requiring  to  be  judged 
according  to  the  evidence.      For  Jesus  ever 
pays  homage  to  the   laws  of  evidence  ;    He 
makes  no  demand  on  our  belief  apart   from 
the  evidence,  and  is  no  patron  of  any  blind, 
unwarrantable,  groundless,  or  unreasoning  faith. 
In  all  matters  of  reported  or  recorded  fact, 
or  of  historic  inquiry,  it  is  to  be  borne  in  mind 
there    is    only   kind   of    proof  possible ;    not 
deductive  proof,  as  in  mathematics,  nor  inductive 
proof,  as  in   natural   science,  but  only  testa- 
mentary proof,  as  in  a  court  of  law.     It  is  easy 
to  compel  belief  in  the  case  of  mathematical 
demonstration — as,  for  instance,  the  three  angles 
of  any  triangle  are  equal  to  two  right  angles. 
For  a  man  to  deny  such  demonstration  would 
only  show  him  to  be  intellectually  imbecile  or 
idiotic.     So  in  science  we  verify  anything  by 
actual  or  visible  experiment,  as  when  we  would 
demonstrate  that  oxygen  and  hydrogen  under 
certain    conditions    combine    to   form   water. 
But  if  any  man  deny  facts  reported  of  Napoleon 
or  Cromwell,  the  only  way  of  proving  them  is 
by  calling  witnesses  or  adducing  testimony. 


206    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

In  this  case  there  is  room  for  the  exercise  of 
the  moral  nature.  Much  more  is  this  so  when 
the  narrative  concerns  one  Hke  Jesus  Christ, 
Who  makes  great  claims,  and  Who  demands 
implicit  trust  and  reliance.  He  is  to  be 
attested  and  made  known  by  what  He  says, 
what  He  doeSy  and  what  He  is — the  evidence 
for  the  truth  of  His  claims  appealing  primarily 
and  supremely  to  moral  considerations. 

For  He  rests  the  truth  and  vahdity  of  His 
claims  as  *  the  sent  of  God '  mainly  on  that 
kind  of  evidence  which  *  tries  the  hearts  and 
reins  of  the  children  of  men,'  and  which,  at 
the  same  time,  is  most  accessible,  most  easily 
understood,  and  most  trenchantly  conclusive. 
For  where  there  is  moral  evidence  it  is  always 
adequate  for  conviction  in  itself 

We  may  not  disparage  any  available  eY\- 
dence  whatever,  and  Christ's  claims  are  to 
be  weighed  and  examined  along  very  varied 
lines,  external  and  internal,  inductive  and 
deductive,  historical  and  experimental,  and  the 
like.  For  He  comes  before  us  as  a  great  his- 
toric person,  to  be  appraised  and  appreciated 
on  the  lines  of  historical  investigation,  but 
chiefly  as  a  divinely  sent,  divinely  attested, 
divinely  qualified,  and  Divine  Saviour,  whose 
claims   require    no    long,    learned,    recondite 


THE   GAIN  TO   FAITH  207 

trains  of  argument,  however  much  they  may 
admit  of  it ;  assurance  here  depending  not  on 
critical  subtleties  or  finely  spun  philosophiz- 
ings,  but  on  certain  plain  and  direct  moral 
considerations,  open  alike  to  all,  from  the 
humblest  to  the  highest. 

'There  are  three,'  says  the  Apostle  John, 
*  that  bear  witness  on  earth :  the  Spirit,  the 
water,  and  the  blood,'  or,  in  other  words,  as 
we  conceive  it,  Christ's  own  attested  character ; 
His  adaptation  to  mans  deepest  needs,  which 
any  one  can  put  to  the  proof  for  himself, 
just  as  any  one  can  assure  himself  of  whole- 
some food  without  chemical  or  other  analysis  ; 
and  finally.  His  matchlessly  good  and  gracious 
effects  and  influences  on  human  nature. 

Now,  of  all  evidence  this  is  the  most  simple, 
direct,  and  valid ;  and  no  visibleness  of  Christ 
could  add  to  its  weight  or  help  us  in  any  way 
to  appreciate  its  cogency  and  conclusiveness. 
Rather  is  Christ's  invisibleness  an  advantage, 
as  it  helps  to  shut  up  faith  to  this  best  and 
surest  of  all  grounds.  Blessed  and  to  be 
praised  are  they  who  take  hold  upon  this 
threefold  cord  of  evidence,  and  who  feel  the 
force  of  this  triple  form  of  moral  witness-bear- 
ing. For  with  heart  and  conscience,  and  not 
with  the  eye.  must  we  see  the  virtue  of  it,  and 


208    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

recognize  the  validity  and  justice  of  Christ's 
claims,  apart  altogether  from  what  sight  can 
supply. 

{b)  Securely  and  consciously  happy.  Pass- 
ing, however,  from  the  warrant,  we  come 
to  the  contents  of  faith  or  trust  in  Christ. 
For  it  is  not  faith  itself,  but  only  what  of 
Christ  our  faith  holds  that  makes  us  blessed 
or  gives  us  guarantees  or  security  for  happi- 
ness ;  just  as  it  is  not  the  glass,  but  the  water 
it  contains,  that  refreshes  us  or  slakes  our 
thirst.  For  faith  is  like  the  cup  or  vessel, 
whose  chief  worth  consists  in  what  it  holds. 

If  we  are  to  be  blessed  with  all  saving 
blessings  in  Christ  Jesus,  faith  must  entertain 
far  more  in  Him  than  the  eye  can  discern  or 
ever  appropriate.  It  is  not  with  the  outward 
eye  we  learn  to  see  in  Jesus  what  will  con- 
strain the  soul  to  put  its  trust  in  Him.  His 
saving  functions  are  never  conveyed  by  out- 
ward gazing.  Many  saw  Him  daily  who 
never  believed  on  Him,  nor  wished  to  do 
so.  Many  saw  Him  who  had  their  antipathy 
stirred  and  their  indifference  and  animosity 
strengthened.  It  is  not  through  the  bodily 
eye  that  Jesus  fulfils  His  promise,  *  I  will 
manifest  Myself  unto  you.' 

Outward   sight   here   is   no   help,  rather   a 


THE   GAIN    TO   FAITH  209 

hindrance.  The  warmth  of  the  sun  does  not 
come  through  sight.  BHnd  people  have  the 
same,  or  at  least  equally  strong,  proof  and 
evidence  of  its  genial,  vitalizing,  health-giving 
rays  as  those  who  see.  No  physical  vision 
contributes  anything  to  this  experience ;  and 
there  is  no  need  of  eyesight  to  reach  the 
assurance  that  Jesus,  Whom  we  have  found, 
or  rather  has  found  us,  is  the  selfsame  Jesus 
Whom  we  find  manifesting  Himself  in  His 
words  and  works  and  ways  as  these  are  dis- 
closed to  us  in  the  Gospels.  Faith  in  Him 
cometh  by  hearing — that  is,  not  by  hearsay, 
but  by  'giving  heed'  to  Himself,  in  what  He 
says  and  does,  and  in  the  spirit  and  mode  of 
His  saying  and  doing  it — that  is,  in  showing 
what  He  really  is,  '  Now  we  believe,'  said 
the  Samaritans  to  the  woman,  *not  because 
of  thy  saying,  but  because  we  have  heard 
[or  given  heed  to]  Him  ourselves,  and  know 
that  this  is  indeed  the  Christ,  the  Saviour  of 
the  world.' 

If  we  are  ever  to  have  faith  in  Christ,  we 
must  look  on  Him  with  other  eyes  than  those 
of  sense.  The  faith  in  Christ  that  alone  can 
make  us  blessed  must  be  faith  in  Him  for 
what  He  distinctively  and  exclusively  is,  the 
one  and  only  Saviour   from  our  sins.     It  is 

14 


210    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

as  the  Saviour  we  must  believe  in  Him ;  and 
outward  looking  at  Him  can  afford  no  help 
here  at  all.  But  just  as  when  we  see  any 
object  the  eye  requires  the  medium  of  the 
luminous  atmosphere,  without  which  it  dis- 
cerns nothing,  so  faith  can  only  discern 
Christ  through  the  truth,  the  one  medium 
whereby  alone  it  can  realize  Him  as  He 
actually  and  truly  is.  For  faith  is  a  method 
of  knowledge  where  other  methods  are  not 
available.  What  a  strange  delusion  to  sup- 
pose that  believing  has  to  do  somehow  with 
religion  only !  There,  no  doubt,  it  holds  its 
loftiest  seat,  and  there  it  reaches  its  highest 
scope  and  exercise.  But  what  can  be  simpler 
or  more  universally  used  than  faith  ?  Is  it 
not  involved  and  presupposed  in  every  act 
of  any  limited  form  of  intelligence  ? 

No  one  can  live  mentally  without  faith,  any 
more  than  physically  without  breath.  How 
can  we  have  knowledge  at  all,  or  how  can 
there  be  any  science  whatever  without  faith  ? 
For  what  is  faith,  if  not  the  connecting  link 
between  knowing  and  being  ?  And  all  faith 
is  the  same,  considered  as  a  process  of  our 
minds  :  it  is  receiving  or  accepting  something 
as  true  on  some  testimony  or  other. 

The    object   which    faith   embraces    is,   for 


THE   GAIN   TO   FAITH  211 

higher  life,  of  as  serious  moment  as  what  the 
lungs  breathe  is  for  our  lower  physical  life. 
If  what  we  believe  be  false,  it  is  like  poisonous 
air  to  the  lungs  ;  if  it  be  true,  it  is  as  blessed 
and  wholesome  to  our  higher  being  as  a  pure 
atmosphere  is  to  our  bodily  wellbeing.^ 

Now,  believing  in  Jesus  is  receiving  or 
accepting  the  Divine  truth  or  testimony  re- 
garding Him  ;  and  here  sight  is  of  no  avail. 
The  chief  parts  of  that  testimony  are  these : 
That  for  our  state  of  sin  and  misery  we  each 
need  a  Saviour  ;  that  Christ  is  the  only  Saviour 
we  need  ;  that  we  must  put  our  trust  in  Him 
voluntarily,  yet  not  without  the  help  of  Divine 
grace,  the  entreated  aid  of  God's  own  Spirit ; 
and  that  every  sinner  is  commanded,  warranted, 
and  welcome  to  do  so.  Hence  the  faith  which 
alone  brings  blessedness  to  the  soul  is  not  a 
mere  assent  to  much  that  is  true  about  Christ, 

^  Faith  even  in  its  lower  forms  is  one  of  the  most  potent 

f towers  for  influencing  alike  both  body  and  mind.  On  its  higher 
evels,  and  when  exercised  on  Christ  as  the  source  of  ineifable 
goodness^  power,  and  love,  it  proves  itself  a  healing,  exhilarating, 
and  curative  force  of  the  first  order.  Like  every  other  part  of 
the  Christian  disposition,  a  well-balanced  and  duly  exercised 
Christian  faith  is  an  aid  to  mental  and  physical  health,  and 
is  a  state  of  mind  of  immense  serviceableness  in  patients  under 
medical  treatment,  and  is  one  of  the  best  of  prophylactics.  In 
adverting  to  faith's  healing  power  and  function  (not,  of  course, 
apart  from  use  of  physical  means  and  remedies),  we  are  but 
following  the  primitive  Church  usage  and  teaching,  and  are  in 
the  line  of  very  well  ascertained  experience  and  of  easily 
verifiable  fact. 


212    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

but  it  is  trust  in  Himself  as  our  own  Saviour. 
It  is  receiving  and  believing  in  all  the  truth 
that  will  be  needed  to  shut  us  up  into  a 
reception  of,  and  reliance  on,  Him  alone  for 
salvation.  For  it  is  the  Saviour  alone  that 
saves.  '  Blessed  are  all  they  that  put  their 
trust  in  Him.'  A  bodily  sight  of  Christ  is  one 
thing,  a  believing  trust  in  Christ  is  wholly 
another  and  independent  thing. 

Blessed  are  they  whose  faith  attaches  to 
what  in  Him  no  eyesight  can  reach,  and  who 
by  belie vingly  embracing  Him  in  all  His  saving 
offices  and  functions  secure  in  Him  the  full 
benefits  and  experiences  of  His  benign  and 
blood-bought  salvation,  with  all  the  exhaustless 
pleasures  and  treasures  He  alone  contains  and 
conveys.  '  In  Whom,  though  now  ye  see 
Him  not,  yet  believing,  ye  rejoice  with  joy 
unspeakable  and  full  of  glory,  receiving  the 
end  of  your  faith,  even  the  salvation  of  your 
souls.' 

It  is  only  through  a  faith  which  thus 
virtually  embraces  and  unites  us  to  Christ  our 
Saviour  that  we  secure  the  Divine  forgiveness 
and  favour,  peace  of  conscience,  the  comfort- 
able sense  of  Divine  love  in  our  souls,  the 
gracious  benefits  of  God's  Spirit,  the  impar- 
tation  of  the  life  Divine  with  its  many  happy 


THE   GAIN   TO   FAITH  213 

experiences,  such  as  true  abiding  and  cheerful 
hope  toward  God,  the  fihal  relationship  and  the 
disposition  to  call  God  our  Father,  the  privi- 
leged position  and  freedom  of  children,  with 
all  its  glorious  deliverance  from  slavish  terror, 
bitter  remorse,  and  fearful  forebodings,  the 
sense  of  power  over  evil  and  of  sufficient  aid 
to  help  in  every  time  of  need  according  to 
our  requirements,  the  good  hope  through 
heavenly  grace,  and  all  the  other  benign 
benefits  of  Christ's  mediation,  and  of  His 
saving  functions  and  offices  as  our  Redeemer — 
the  Lord  and  sustainer  of  life's  goodness  and 
blessedness  both  now  and  hereafter,  whereby 
we  find  the  good  of  His  chosen  and  are  made 
glad  with  all  His  heritage. 

(c)  Instrumental  in  blessing  others.  Having 
set  forth  the  warrant  for  and  the  blessed 
contents  of  trusting  in  Jesus  without  needing 
to  see  Him,  we  are  now  to  exhibit  the 
supreme  efficiency  of  such  a  faith.  For  while, 
no  doubt,  as  the  proverb  says,  *  Seeing  is  be- 
lieving,' yet  because  it  is  not  believing  much, 
there  is  never  much  pith  or  power  of  serving 
others  in  such  believing. 

It  is  chiefly  a  faith  which  '  asks  not  sight ' 
that  can  exhibit  self-sacrificing  devotion  to 
the  claims  of  others   in  any  marked  degree. 


214    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

For  this  order  of  faith  involves  far  nobler 
exercises  of  mind  and  will,  of  heart  and 
conscience,  than  any  faith  that  rests  on  sight. 
For  it  grasps  facts  not  as  isolated  things,  but 
in  their  principle  and  significance.  Even 
scientific  faith,  when  it  grasps  realities  not  in 
their  outer  appearance,  but  in  their  inward 
meaning  and  bearing,  how  it  becomes  clothed 
with  new  power  and  serviceableness !  The 
mere  sight  of  an  apple  falling  to  the  ground 
did  no  effective  work  for  science  till  Newton 
caught  in  it  its  connection  with  the  hidden 
powers  and  processes  of  gravitation,  and 
descried  that — 

The  selfsame  law  which  moulds  a  tear. 
And  bids  it  trickle  from  its  source. 

That  law  preserves  the  earth  a  sphere. 
And  keeps  the  planets  in  their  course. 

Then  with  what  new  leaps  and  bounds 
did  science  move  forward !  Fresh  modes  of 
investigation  were  tried,  and  fresh  fields  of 
discovery  were  opened  up.  A  faith  bound 
to  sight  or  bounded  by  sight  has  little  or  no 
tendency  to  urge  men's  thoughts  to  further 
issues.  In  like  manner  how  feeble  and  un- 
serviceable were  Christ's  disciples  while  they 
reaUzed  and  understood  Him  chiefly  after  the 
flesh  I     But  when  under  the  baptism  of  God's 


THE   GAIN    TO   FAITH  215 

Spirit  their  faith  grasped  Him  according  to 
*  the  truth  that  is  in  Jesus,'  what  different 
men  they  showed  themselves !  Then  they 
began  '  to  subdue  kingdoms,  to  work  right- 
eousness, to  quench  the  violence  of  fire,  to 
defy  the  edge  of  the  sword :  out  of  weakness 
were  made  strong,  waxed  valiant  in  fight,  and 
put  to  flight  whole  armies  of  the  alien.' 

So  faith  receiving  Christ  in  all  His  saving 
offices  and  benefits  is  no  mere  solitary  act.  It 
is  a  ceaselessly  operative  principle,  introducing 
us  into  fellowship  with  Him,  and  producing 
in  us  spiritual  affinity  with  Him  also.  This 
is  the  faith  that  works,  and  works  by  love,  and 
is  full  of  all  good  fruits.  It  may  be  small  as 
a  grain  of  mustard-seed  ;  but,  like  that  grain 
of  mustard-seed,  which  by  virtue  of  the  living 
force  in  it,  pushing  aside  or  surmounting 
obstacles  far  larger  than  itself,  and  coming 
to  the  surface  in  spite  of  soil,  roots,  stones, 
and  other  hindrances,  faith  removes  mountains 
in  its  conquering  course  and  casts  them  into 
the  sea,  acting  like  the  resistless  breath  of 
spring,  when  it  bursts  the  frosts  of  winter 
and  propels  all  Nature  into  bud  and  leaf  and 
flower.  Christian  faith  is  not  an  opinion  only, 
or  some  barren  intellectual  notion  ;  it  is  con- 
viction, vital  conviction,  of  *the   truth  as  it 


216    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

is  in  Jesus/  which  carries  the  whole  of  our 
nature  with  it.  And  truth  is  always  the 
correspondence  of  our  nature  with  reality. 
Necessary  truth  is  its  correspondence  with 
self-evident  propositions  ;  scientific  truth  its 
correspondence  with  the  phenomena  of  Nature  ; 
mental  truth  with  our  mental  phenomena ; 
moral  truth  with  moral  law,  or  the  corre- 
spondence of  our  words  and  ways  with  our 
inner  thoughts ;  religious  truth  the  corre- 
spondence of  our  conceptions  with  Divine 
revelation,  and  Christian  truth  their  corre- 
spondence with  Christ's  manifestation  of 
visible   and   eternal   realities. 

It  is  this  faith  in  Him  that  makes  Chris- 
tianity a  religion,  and  not  a  philosophy,  a 
spiritual  religion,  and  not  a  speculation,  pro- 
fession, or  ritual ;  a  vital  personal  religion,  and 
not  a  tradition  or  argumentative  exercise.  If 
science  has  to  do  with  the  sequences  of 
phenomena,  and  philosophy  with  their  causes, 
this  faith  of  Christ  has  to  do  with  persons. 
It  is  a  personal  faith  in  a  personal  Saviour. 
Planting  Christ  in  its  central  place,  and 
gathering  round  Him  the  loftiest  personal 
sentiments,  gratitude,  admiration,  adoring 
regard,  hope,  love,  paramount  devotion,  and 
obedience,  it  touches  the  deepest  springs  of  our 


THE   GAIN   TO   FAITH  217 

being,  and  causes  the  tide  of  our  Christianized 
nature  to  gush  out  in  perennial  streams  of 
Christ-hke  beneficence  and  goodwill,  till  '  the 
wilderness  and  solitary  place  be  made  glad  for 
them,  and  the  moral  deserts  to  rejoice  and 
blossom  as  the  rose.' 

How  patient  and  persistent  a  force  for 
abiding  in  love  and  persevering  in  all  well- 
doing is  this  faith !  What  an  antidote  it 
presents  to  all  despondency,  indolence,  indif- 
ference, and  slackness  !  Think  of  JNIoses,  how 
conspicuous  among  the  heroes  of  faith,  and 
how  he  endured,  because  seeing  Him  Who 
is  invisible  !  How  he  confronts  Pharaoh,  not 
fearing  the  wrath  of  the  king !  How  he 
persists  against  all  difficulties  and  obstacles ! 
How  he  becomes  the  liberator  and  law-giver 
of  his  people  by  faith  !  How  he  endures 
the  fractious  temper  and  misdoing  of  the 
tribes,  the  jealousies  and  envies  of  brother 
and  sister,  and  the  rebellious  spirit  of  the 
sacerdotal  order  and  its  uprising  against  his 
greater  prophetic  status  ! 

It  was  no  mere  mystical  rapture,  this  faith 
of  his.  It  meant  laborious,  anxious,  and 
loyal  service  for  forty  years.  He  endured 
as  seeing  Him  AVho  is  invisible.  He  looked 
at  things  seen  as  but  the  window  of  things 


218    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

yet  unseen  beyond  ;  and  he  dealt  with  passing 
events  as  but  signs  and  symbols  for  heralding 
what  were  as  yet  impalpable  realities  in 
store. 

It  is  ever  so  with  every  real  or  ethical  faith  ; 
it  carries  the  whole  forces  of  our  being  with 
it,  and  yokes  them  to  persistent  and  per- 
severing service  in  the  interest  alike  of  God 
and  man.  This  is  the  faith  that  works,  that 
works  by  love,  and  is  full  of  all  good  and 
fruitful  service  both  for  God  and  man.  *^As 
faithless  works  the  Lord  will  not  reward,  so 
workless  faith  the  Lord  will  not  regard.' 


CHAPTER   II 
THE   GAIN   TO   HOPE 


Man  is^  properly  speakings  based  upon  hope  ;  he  has  no  other 
possession  but  hope. — Sartor  Resartus,  ii.  7. 

Hope  springs  eternal  in  the  human  breast : 
Man  never  is,  but  always  to  be  blest. 
The  soul  uneasy  and  confined  from  home. 
Rests  and  expatiates  in  a  life  to  come. 

Pope,  Epistle  i.  95-98. 

Hope,  like  the  gleaming  taper's  light, 

Adorns  and  cheers  the  way  ; 
And  still  as  darker  grows  the  night, 

Emits  a  brighter  ray. 

GoLDSfliiTH,  The  Captivity. 

As  some  adventurous  flower, 
On  savage  cragside  grown. 
Seems  nourished  hour  by  hour 
From  its  wild  self  alone  ; 
So  lives  inveterate  Hope  on  her  own  hardihood. 

William  Watson. 

We  shall  be  like  Him  ;  for  we  shall  see  Him  as  He  is.  And 
every  man  that  hath  this  hope  in  Him  purifieth  himself,  even  as 
He  is  pure. — 1  John  iii.  2,  8. 


CHAPTER   II 

THE    GAIN    TO    HOPE 

Hope  is  the  expectation  of  what  we  deem 
desirable.  It  is  not  expectation  by  itself  nor 
desire  by  itself,  but  it  is  a  union  of  the  two. 
Thus  we  expect  pain,  misfortune,  disease,  or 
death ;  but  we  cannot  be  said  to  hope  for 
them,  because  we  do  not  desire  them.  And 
there  are  things  which  we  may  desire,  but  we 
cannot  be  said  to  hope  for  them,  because  we 
do  not  expect  them. 

Hope  is  therefore  in  part  faith,  and  in  part 
love.  So  far  as  it  looks  to  the  future  and 
expects  some  unseen  good,  it  is  faith  ;  and 
so  far  as  it  desires  such  future  good  it  is 
love. 

The  combination  is  apparent  in  the  present 
context.  *  Behold  I '  says  the  Apostle — here 
is  an  appeal  to  our  faith,  and  no  less  an  appeal 
to  our  love — for,  '  behold,  what  manner  of  love 
the  Father  hath  bestowed  on  us.'     And  the 

221 


222    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

outcome  of  both  is  this  hope  as  an  uphfting 
and  purifying  influence. 

^  (i)  Had  the  Apostle  been  desirous  of  setting 
forth  the  Father's  love  in  its  greatness  and 
cost,  he  would  have  referred  to  the  gift  and 
surrender  of  His  only-begotten  and  well- 
beloved  Son.  But  referring  as  he  does  here 
to  its  spirit  and  aim,  to  its  manner  and 
quality,  rather  than  to  its  mere  measure, 
he  lays  emphasis  and  stress  on  its  object  and 
design  in  that  He  is  calling  us,  even  us,  to  be 
His  sons  ;  and  not  to  be  so  in  name  only, 
but  in  nature,  not  in  outward  semblance,  but 
in  deed  and  in  truth. 

The  world  does  not,  of  course,  appreciate 
and  sets  little  or  no  store  by  such  a  high  or 
privileged  character  and  position  ;  its  ambitions 
lie  not  in  that  direction.  It  '  recognizeth  us 
not.'  How  should  it,  when  it  neither  knew 
nor  acknowledged  God's  own  Son  when  He 
presented  Himself  among  men  ?  '  The  world 
knew  Him  not.'  It  had  nothing  in  common 
with  Him,  in  spirit,  method,  or  aim — no  real 
or  vital  sympathy  with  Him  in  His  redeeming 
plans  and  pursuits.  *  So  beautiful  and  attrac- 
tive is  Divine  virtue,'  said  once  a  noted 
preacher,  *  that  were  it  but  to  appear  among 
men,  the  world  would  fall  down  and  worship 


THE   GAIN   TO   HOPE  223 

it !  *  *  No  ! '  said  his  better-informed  colleague, 
'  it  did  appear  among  men,  but  the  world  fell 
upon  it  and  crucified  it ! '  So  it  is  still.  The 
world  appreciates  us  not,  because  it  appreciated 
Him  not.  But  be  this  privilege  of  Divine 
Sonship  despised  or  honoured,  it  is  not  one  to 
be  relegated  wholly  to  the  future.  It  is  a 
present  privilege  and  experience,  and  must  be 
entered  on  now  and  here.  For  now  are  we 
made  sons  of  God,  and  the  experiences  of 
sonship  are  to  be  in  us  now  or  never.  True, 
'  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be.' 
Great  and  gracious  as  are  the  blessed  ex- 
periences and  benefits  it  may  now  afford, 
these  furnish  no  adequate  gauge  of  what 
sonship  ultimately  involves.  We  pick  up  a 
rag  from  the  street,  and  wash  and  bleach  it. 
How  different  from  what  it  was !  Yet  the 
change  is  as  nothing  to  what  the  rag  may 
become.  We  send  it  to  the  paper  mill,  and 
see  it  torn  to  shreds  and  reduced  to  pulp. 
But  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  the  rag  may 
be.  It  is  passed  between  hot  rollers,  and 
comes  forth  a  sheet  of  pure  white  paper  I  But 
it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  the  rag  may  be. 
We  send  it  to  the  printing-press,  and  get 
stamped  upon  it  'thoughts  that  breathe  in 
words  that  burn,'  and  it  doth  not  yet  appear 


224    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

what  the  rag  may  be  in  position,  in  honour,  or 
in  influence  ! 

The  sons  of  God  are  '  washed,  and  justified, 
and  sanctified  in  the  name  of  the  I^ord  Jesus, 
and  by  the  Spirit  of  our  God.'  But  it  doth 
not  therefrom  appear  what  we  shall  be  !  We 
have  neither  the  power  nor  the  gift  to  conclude 
therefrom  what  mightier  changes  m  body,  soul, 
or  spirit  may  be  wrapped  up  in  the  hidden 
processes  of  God's  great  redemptive  laboratory. 
It  is  not  yet  made  clear  what  we  shall  be. 
All,  however,  is  not  dark.  One  bright  ray  at 
least  sheds  its  welcome  gleam  of  assurance. 
We  know  that  when  He  shall  appear  we 
shall  be  like  Him,  when  we  see  Him  not 
as  He  once  was,  but  as  He  is  now — in 
a  perfectly  purified  and  glorified  humanity, 
and  not,  as  of  old,  in  lowly  and  suffering 
form  and  condition.  And  how  did  the 
Apostle  know  this  ?  How  but  by  recalling 
and  interpreting  by  the  Spirit  the  Master's 
own  memorable  words  ?  '  Father,  I  will  that 
those  whom  Thou  hast  given  Me  be  with  Me 
where  I  am,  to  behold  My  glory.'  *  Pre- 
destinated to  be  conformed  to  the  image  of 
His  glory.'  The  beatific  vision  will  complete 
in  them  the  likeness  to  which  they  are  now  in 
measure  conforming.     This  is  our  hope — this 


THE   GAIN   TO    HOPE  225 

is  what  we  both  desh'e  and  expect  to  reach. 
Speaking  generally,  the  Christian  hope  is  for 
a  holy  heaven,  for  glory,  honour,  and  immor- 
tality, for  an  inheritance  incorruptible,  unde- 
filed,  and  that  fadeth  not  away.  But  more 
specifically  it  is  a  hope,  as  here  expressed,  that 
settles  and  fastens  on  Christ  Himself — in  His 
present,  though  unseen,  most  pure  humanity, 
in  body,  soul,  spirit,  and  environment.  And 
what  we  are  now  to  consider  is,  the  beneficial 
effect  of  Christ's  invisibleness  upon  this  hope 
of  ours  to  see  Him  and  become  pure  in  our 
whole  human  nature  and  condition  even  as  He 
is  pure. 

(ii)  His  bodily  absence  meantime  avails 
to  make  this  hope  (a)  possible,  {^)  'predomi- 
nant, and  (y)  patiently  'persistent,  as  a  present 
purifying  power. 

[a)  Christ's  invisibleness  renders  this  hope 
possible.  It  is  of  the  essence  of  hope  to 
look  to  *  things  not  seen  as  yet.'  For,  says 
an  Apostle,  '  Hope  that  is  seen  is  not  hope. 
For  who  hopeth  for  what  he  seeth  ? '  Now 
hope  in  Christ  is  to  be  like  Him  in  purity  of 
body,  mind,  spirit,  and  state. 

(1)  In  bodily  purity.  Not  merely  super- 
ficial purity,  albeit  cleanliness  is  nigh  to 
godliness,   and   a    part   of    it    as    well.     But 

15 


226    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

purity  in  the  very  substance  and  structure  of 
the  organic  frame.  Corruption  is  to  give 
place  to  incorruption  in  a  body  no  more 
subject  to  disease,  decay,  or  dissolution,  nor 
capable  of  becoming  a  festering,  putrid  corpse, 
from  which  every  sense  recoils,  and  affection 
itself  turns  away  with  loathing.  A  body  free 
also  from  every  stain  on  its  escutcheon,  no 
longer  a  body  of  dishonour  with  its  dark 
disgrace  of  sin  and  shame,  but  one  fashioned 
according  to  the  body  of  His  glory ;  no  longer 
liable  to  weakness,  pain,  or  weariness,  nor 
standing  in  need  of  rest,  food,  or  sleep.  But 
freed  from  all  the  requirements  and  necessities 
of  animal  life  and  condition,  it  shall  blossom 
from  a  natural  into  a  spiritual  body — no  doubt, 
body  still,  but  a  fit  handmaid  and  reflection 
of  the  purified  spirit,  and  moulded  by  the 
presence  and  power  of  the  spiritual  life  within. 

For  of  the  soul  the  body  form  doth  tak*;. 
For  soul  is  form_,  and  doth  the  body  make.^ 

So  we  read,  *  If  the  Spirit  of  Him  that 
raised  up  Jesus  from  the  dead  dwell  in  you,  .  .  . 
He  shall  also  quicken  your  mortal  bodies  by 
means  of  the  Spirit  that  diioelleth  in  you.'  ^ 

Ah  !  how  much  easier  it  is  for  us  now  to 

^  Edmund  Spenser's  Hymn  in  Honour  of  Beauty. 
*  Rom.  viii.  11. 


THE   GAIN   TO   HOPE  227 

descry  in  the  present  body  the  workings  of 
corrupt  nature  than  of  purifying  grace ;  to 
see  it  expressing  mahce,  envy,  jealousy,  and 
rage,  far  more  clearly  than  love,  piety,  truth, 
or  wisdom  !     For — 

We  are  spirits  clad  in  veils, 

Man  by  man  was  never  seen. 
All  our  close  communion  fails. 

To  remove  the  shado^vy  screen. 

Our  hope  is  for  a  body  to  be  constituted 
in  such  purity  as  shall  unveil  and  express 
its  own  inherent  stainlessness,  and  cause  us 
to  know  each  other  even  as  we  are  known, 
without  any  intervening  veil  at  all.  It  is 
thus  the  operation  of  the  spiritual  life  that 
determines  the  spiritual  body,  just  as  now  the 
natural  body  is  the  exponent  of  the  natural  life. 

(2)  In  intellectual  purity.  We  hope  to  be 
like  Christ  in  mental  purity ;  in  minds  un- 
tainted with  doubt,  or  any  other  of  the  mani- 
fold corrupting  influences  to  which  thought 
is  often  now  subject.  Our  very  methods  of 
knowledge,  so  tedious  and  operose,  have 
entails  of  impurity  about  them  : 

Where  but  to  think  has  taste  of  woe. 
And  leaden-eyed  despair. 

And  an  *  increase  of  knowledge  increaseth 
sorrow.' 


228    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

For  while  light  in  its  final  plenitude  dis- 
pels clouds  and  darkness,  yet  in  its  earlier 
struggles  it  but  helps  to  reveal  the  darkness 
and  show  how  much  of  darkness  there  really 
is.  Our  first  efforts  at  knowledge  are  but 
as  a  rushlight  that  conquers  a  small  part  of 
the  surrounding  darkness.  To  enlarge  the 
area  of  light  is  but  to  enlarge  the  circum- 
ference of  the  darkness,  and  multiply  our 
sense  of  their  points  of  conflict.  Our  very 
knowledge  is  thus  stained  by  doubt,  and  our 
every  effort  to  communicate  knowledge  often 
adds  to  the  blot  of  possible  confusion  and 
misunderstanding : 

For  words^  like  Nature,  half  reveal. 
And  half  conceal  the  soul  within.' 

Or,  as  Dante  says  in  his  final  vision  : 

O  speech  !  how  feehle  and  how  faint  art  thou. 
To  give  conception  birth  !  ^ 

Our  hope  is  not  indeed  ever  to  reach 
omniscience — for  with  all  reverence  be  it  said 
this  incommunicable  Divine  attribute  is  no 
part  of  Christ's  human  intelligence,  how 
closely  soever  it  is  knit  to  it — but  our  hope 
is  to  be  so  mentally  near  to  the  fount  and 
centre  of  light  as   to  see   light  ever   clearly 

*  Tennyson,  In  Memoriam.  ^  Paradiso,  xxxiii. 


THE   GAIN   TO    HOPE  229 

in  that  light,  where  there  is  no  darkness 
at  all,  and  where  no  shadows  of  doubt, 
or  perplexity,  or  questionings  can  stain  or 
pollute,  as  now,  the  bright  radiance  of  un- 
clouded knowledge.  For,  alas  !  in  our  present 
experience  we  realize  that  *the  brighter  the 
light,  the  darker  is  the  shadow  it  can  cast.' 

But,  at  last,  all  mere  surmises  and  imagin- 
ings and  theorizings  and  guessings  are  for  ever 
to  be  at  an  end,  and  we  are  to  become  pure  in 
our  intelligence,  in  all  its  methods,  processes, 
results,  and  uses,  as  Christ  Himself  is  pure. 

(3)  In  moral  purity.  In  purity  of  inner 
nature,  of  character,  spirit,  and  disposition. 
Even  in  sanctified  humanity  how  often  and 
easily  the  hidden  and  subdued  springs  of 
corruption  burst  out  afresh,  and  threaten  to 
overflow  the  higher  and  better  being  with 
filth  and  pollution  I 

The  regulative  powers,  even  of  a  well- 
constituted  soul,  lose  sometimes  their  hold 
and  control  at  a  careless  and  unwatchful 
moment.  How  the  appetites  strive  for  the 
mastery,  even  over  a  pure  conscience  and  a 
renewed  will !  What  efforts  on  the  part  of 
the  lower  powers  to  win  again  from  time  to 
time  the  old  ascendancy !  How  lusts  and 
passions  war  against  the  soul?  and  how  the 


230    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

higher  affections  get  overborne  by  lower  im- 
pulses !     And  the  new  nature,  however  it  may 
be  keyed  to  hoUer  issues,  gets   often  out  of 
tune,  as  if  an  evil  spirit  had  struck  the  chords 
of  our  worse  selves  and  played  upon  the  baser 
notes.     The   old   man  with  his  deeds,  which 
are  corrupt   according   to  the  deceitful  lusts, 
though     subdued    and     thrust     out-of-doors, 
returns   ever   and   anon   to   claim   possession, 
as   long   as    '  evil   is   present  with  us.'     '  Oh  1 
wretched  that  I  am  ! '  cries  the  Apostle,  even 
when   far   on   in   his    sanctified  course,  *  who 
shall  dehver   me   from  this   body  of  death  ? ' 
the  image  he  uses  being  one  derived  from  a 
penalty  imposed  by  the  tyrant  Mezentius,  who 
bound  a  loathsome  corpse  to  the  hving  body, 
so   that  when   the  victim  lay  down  at  night 
the  horrible  thing  was  present  with  him,  and 
when  he  woke  in  the  morning  the  sickening 
corruption  still  was  there  !     The  hope  toward 
Christ  is  to  be  freed  for  ever  from  this  foul 
body   of    the    carnal    nature,    Irom    its    very 
presence   and   memory,   so   that   we   may  be 
pure  in  spirit  even  as  He  is  pure. 

(4)  In  environing  purity.  The  surrounding 
relations,  the  all-encompassing  atmosphere, 
will  correspond  to  the  purity  of  the  inner 
being.     There  purity  shall  have  its  fixed  seat 


THE   GAIN   TO   HOPE  231 

and  abode.  Nothing  that  defileth  there  in 
that  new  heaven  and  earth,  wherein  dwelleth 
righteousness ;  only  sights  and  scenes  of  purity 
to  fill  and  fascinate  the  eye ;  only  purest 
harmony  to  regale  the  ear ;  all  pure  pursuits 
to  engage  the  activities  ;  all  pure  converse  to 
rejoice  the  heart ;  the  streets  of  the  city  of 
pure  gold ;  and  the  river  a  pure  river  of  the 
water  of  life. 

Heaven  itself  is  purity — a  purity  too  great 
as  yet  to  enter  into  us.  Our  hope  is  to  be 
pure  even  as  Christ  is  pure,  so  as  at  last  to 
be  fit  to  enter  into  it. 

(/8)  Chris fs  invlsibleness  tends  to  r^ender  this 
hope  predominant.  It  is  what  is  not  seen 
as  yet  that  brings  hope  into  play  as  an  efficient 
and  energetic  force.  And  every  man  who 
cherishes  the  hope  of  being  pure,  as  Christ  is 
pure,  will  be  purifying  himself  For  hope 
takes  after  the  quality  of  its  object.  If  faith 
be  the  most  vitalizing  principle  in  our  nature, 
and  love  the  most  transforming,  then  hope 
is,  of  the  three,  the  most  assimilative  in  its 
action. 

The  thing  we  hope  for,  that  we  are. 

To  let  the  new  life  in,  we  know 
Desire  must  ope  the  portal.^ 

^  Lowell, 


282    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

The  reason  is  obvious.  Hope  being,  as  we 
have  seen,  a  union  of  desire  and  expectation, 
so  far  as  any  one  hopes  to  be  pure  as  Christ  is, 
so  far  he  desires  himself  to  be  pure,  and  sees 
such  purity  to  be  a  covetable  thing.  Yet 
desire  by  itself  might  be  feeble  and  dormant, 
if  not  sustained  by  an  assured  expectation  of 
the  object  being  sooner  or  later  attainable. 
Thus  desire  being  a  certain  impelling  power 
and  expectation  moving  also  in  the  same 
direction,  hope  becomes  charged  with  a  double 
potency.  So  we  know  the  hopeful  man  to 
be  ever  the  aspiring  man,  and  if  he  be  living 
under  the  uplifting  power  of  a  cherished  ideal, 
he  is  himself  being  thereby  uplifted  day  by 
day.  For  hope,  though  it  fixes  its  gaze  on 
the  future,  has  its  power  in  the  present.  Its 
object  may  be  in  the  unseen  and  in  the  future, 
but  its  operation  is  ever  in  the  actual  present. 
Every  man  that  hath  this  hope  of  being  pure 
like  Christ  is  by  virtue  thereof,  and  as  a  matter 
of  fact  and  immediate  attainment,  even  now 
purifying  himself.  The  general  and  prev^aihng 
trend  and  tendency  of  his  being  is  toward 
purifying  himself.  The  bias  of  his  character 
is  in  this  direction.  Not  that  he  is  unaidedly 
able  to  purify  himself,  but  he  is  stirred  and 
impelled    to    use    the     needful     means    and 


THE   GAIN   TO   HOPE  233 

measures  as  well  as  invoke  any  helpful  aid 
that  may  contribute  towards  the  purifying  of 
himself  physically,  mentally,  morally,  and 
socially ;  for  this  hope  has  affinity  for  purity 
of  every  sort  and  in  every  direction.  More 
especially  it  prompts  towards — 

( 1 )  Physical  or  bodily  purity.  This  Christian 
hope  is  naturally  and  of  necessity  the  patron 
of  all  healthful  cleanliness  without  and  within. 
It  recognizes  that  filth  and  dirt  is  matter  out 
of  place,  and  it  appreciates  the  Divine  pro- 
vision of  five  times  more  water  than  land  on 
the  earth's  surface,  for  the  sanitation  and 
cleansing  of  the  globe. 

But  this  hope  deals  with  something  deeper 
than  superficial  purifying.  It  demands  the 
putting  away  of  the  filth  of  the  flesh,  and 
hating  even  the  garment  spotted  from  the 
world  ;  avoiding  self-indulgence  and  all  excess, 
whether  intemperance,  gluttony,  or  other  sins 
and  wickedness  done  in  the  body  to  its 
hurt,  its  pollution,  and  inward  foulness  and 
corruption.  And  it  is  no  mere  negative 
prescription  against  bodily  ills,  but  it  calls 
into  use  all  lawful  positive  measures  for 
ensuring  the  sound  body  as  the  fit  handmaid 
of  the  sound  mind. 

(2)  31ental  purity,      *  The     wisdom    that 


234    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

Cometh  from  above  is  first  pure,'  and  *the 
knowledge  of  the  holy  is  understanding.' 
'The  fear  of  the  Lord  is  clean,  enlightening 
the  eyes.'  With  all  intellectual  attainments 
and  equipment,  the  purifying  hope  interjects 
the  craving  for  that  knowledge  which  is  'a 
well-spring  of  life  to  him  that  hath  it,'  as  it 
seeks  to  understand  and  find  the  knowledge 
of  God.  For  *  verily  our  souls  are  purified 
in  obeying  the  truth  through  the  Spirit,' 
because  '  every  word  of  the  Lord  is  pure,' 
and  it  has  its  own  purifying  influence.  So 
Jesus  says,  *  Ye  are  clean  through  the  word 
I  have  spoken  unto  you.' 

(3)  3Ioral  purity.  Purity  of  heart,  speech, 
and  behaviour  is  the  air  of  this  hope.  It 
reaches  to  and  cleanses  the  hidden  springs 
and  motives  of  life  and  character.  It  adds 
its  '  Amen  '  to  such  words  as  these,  '  Blessed 
are  the  pure  in  heart ' ;  *  Who  shall  ascend 
to  the  hill  of  the  Lord  ?  he  that  hath  clean 
hands  and  a  pure  heart '  ;  *  follow  after  purity'  ; 

*  keep  thyself  pure ' ;  '  purifying  the  heart  by 
faith.'  *  Finally,  whatsoever  things  are  pure  . . . 
think  of  these    things,  and    do    them.'      For 

*  to  them  that  are  unbelieving  is  nothing  pure, 
but  both  their  minds  and  conscience  are 
defiled.'      This,    then,    is    a    hope    that    has 


THE    GAIN   TO   HOPE  235 

taught  its  holders  to  be  '  washing  their  robes, 
and  making  them  white  in  the  blood  of  the 
liamb,'  and  to  invoking  the  Spirit  of  purity 
and  grace,  saying,  '  'Tis  Thine  to  cleanse  the 
heart  and  purify  the  soul.' 

(4)  Enviroimig pu7ity.  It  has  its  eye  upon 
and  exerts  its  efforts  towards  securing  pure 
conditions  and  surroundings.  Foulness  of 
every  sort  is  its  aversion,  as  purity  in  every 
form  is  its  delight  and  aim  ;  and  whether  it 
be  purity  in  the  home  or  in  the  street,  be  it 
domestic,  social,  economic,  municipal,  political, 
public,  private,  or  any  other  purity  outward  or 
inward,  this  hope  accords  and  is  in  fellowship 
with  that. 

(y)  Chrisfs  invisibleness  renders  this  hope 
a  patiently  persistent  force.  It  is  the  very 
nature  of  hope  to  *hope  on,  hope  ever,'  per- 
sisting in  the  pursuit  of  its  ideal  till  its  goal 
is  reached.  '  Every  man  that  hath  this  hope 
in  Him,  purifieth  himself,  even  as  He  is 
pure.'  The  aim  is  high,  but  not  unattain- 
able ;  for  every  man  that  hath  this  hope 
expects  and  desires  to  reach  it  in  the  end. 
Hope  is  faithful  to  its  own  ideal,  and  feels  the 
spell  and  fascination  of  it.  The  object  it  has 
in  view  is  a  constant  and  abiding  satisfaction. 
The  only  dissatisfying  thing  it  feels  is  its  own 


236    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

poor  attainment  in  the  ideal  it  cherishes,  and 
this  but  adds  incentive  to  further  effort.  For 
'  hope  springs  perennial  in  the  human  breast,' 
and  seeks  to  nourish  itself  by  what  it  feeds 
upon.  No  patience  equal  to  the  patience  of 
hope  !  No  persistency  equal  to  the  persistence 
of  hope  ! 

Does  any  one  shrink  from  the  conflict,  under 
the  mistaken  notion  that  we  should  never 
think  to  equal  Christ  ?  This  were  but  a  false 
humility.  For  our  hope  is  not  to  rival  Christ, 
but  to  resemble  Him  ;  to  be  pure  even  as 
He  is  pure.  The  '  as  '  here  is  not  the  *  as ' 
of  equality,  but  of  similarity.  A  single  white 
ray  is  as  pure  as  all  the  sun's  rays  together, 
though  not  equal  to  them  in  quantity  or 
vastness  of  influence.  The  likeness  may  be 
perfect,  though  it  may  be  in  miniature. 
Every  rill  is  of  as  sparkling  purity  as  the 
well  from  which  it  flows,  unless  it  contract 
to  itself  contaminating  elements.  In  Christ 
is  no  impurity.  No  contamination  emanates 
from  Him.  He  is  pure  ;  the  patron  and  the 
pattern  of  all  purity ;  the  very  spring  and 
fontal  source  of  it.  Himself  its  model.  He 
is  not  less  its  strongest  motive.  The  whiter 
a  surface,  the  more  noticeable  and  obnoxious 
is  any  spot  or  stain.     It  is  against  the  white 


THE   GAIN   TO   HOPE  237 

radiance  of  Christ's  purity  our  own  defilements 
are  best  discerned  and  most  truly  loathed. 
His  purity  is  no  mere  negation,  it  is  a  positive 
force  ;  no  mere  absence  of  defilement,  it  is  a 
purifying  power,  like  the  Holy  Grail.  Was 
it  not  the  soiled  and  spotted  Sir  Lancelot 
who  was  repelled  by  the  verdict,  '  This  quest 
is  not  for  thee '  ?  Only  the  pure-hearted 
knight,  '  whose  strength  was  as  the  strength 
of  ten,  because  his  heart  was  pure,'  who 
cherished  the  vision  of  the  pure,  could  say : 

!_,  Galahadj  I  saw  the  Grail^ 
The  Holy  Grail,  descend: 
Nor  failing-  ever  from  my  sight. 
But  moving  with  me  day  and  night. 

Thus  all  who  entertain  this  hope,  *  enduring 
as  seeing  Him  Who  is  invisible,'  get  changed 
into  the  same  image  from  glory  to  glory,  till 
at  last  the  purity  long  forming,  through  bud 
and  blossom,  bursts  forth  under  the  beatific 
vision  into  the  consummate  flower  of  perfect 
likeness  ;  and  our  hope  attains  its  full  fruition 
when  we  become  pure  at  length,  '  even  as  He 
is  pure.' 


CHAPTER   III 
THE    GAIN   TO    LOVE 


Love   for   Jesus   is  most   noble^   and   spurs   us   on  to   great 
things. — The  Imitation  of  Christ,  v. 

I  love  Thee  now^  my  Lord  ;  but  all  the  love  is  Thine. 
And  by  Thy  love  I  live  ;  for  now  Thy  love  is  mine. 

Madame  Guyon. 

Jesus  Christy  Whom  having  not  seen^  ye  love. — 1  Peter  i.  8. 


CHAPTER    HI 
THE    GAIN   TO    LOVE 

Invisible  realities,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
are  claimed  by  religion  as  its  peculiar  province. 
They  constitute  its  special  forte  and  scope. 
Among  invisible  things  it  holds  its  lofty  seat. 
There  it  finds  its  unalloyed  delights,  and  there 
it  *  lives,  and  moves,  and  has  its  being.' 

(i)  There  need  be,  therefore,  no  surprise  if 
love  to  an  unseen  Saviour  is  demanded  as  the 
indispensable  test  and  badge  of  Christian  dis- 
cipleship.  For  such  a  claim  is  in  beautiful 
accord  with  the  simplest  ideas  of  anything 
worthy  of  the  name  of  religion,  and  coalesces 
in  choicest  harmony  with  its  essential  design, 
of  securing  the  triumph  in  our  hearts  of 
the  invisible  over  the  visible  constitution  of 
things. 

But,  as  it  is  the  nature  of  love  to  crave  the 
actual  presence  and  the  closest  conceivable 
intimacy  of  its  object,  some  may  be  hampered 

241  16 


242    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

with  the  feehng  that  the  bodily  absence  of 
the  Saviour  stands  somehow  opposed  to  a 
strictly  personal  attachment,  or  seriously  inter- 
feres with  our  love  being  vitally  direct  in  its 
operation. 

Many  also,  suspecting  the  weakness  or 
coldness  of  their  love  to  Christ,  may  secretly 
endeavour  to  condone  the  offence  by  imposing 
on  themselves  with  the  delusive  plea  that 
lack  of  ocular  privilege  sufficiently  accounts 
for  their  '  lack  of  service ' ;  and  under  such 
a  groundless  impression,  they  are  perhaps 
inclined  to  cry  in  the  words,  if  not  in  the 
spirit,  of  the  eager  Greeks,  *  Sirs,  we  would 
see  Jesus.' 

Moreover,  there  are  certain  stages  of  Chris- 
tian experience,  certain  moods  of  ruminating, 
speculativ^e  faith,  and  certain  tendencies  of 
individual  temperament,  which  prompt  the 
occasional  desire  either  that  Jesus  had  not 
left  His  Church  below,  or  had  bequeathed 
to  it  some  visible  token  of  His  presence,  as 
God  was  made  manifest  to  Israel  of  old 
by  the  lustrous  Shekinah,  that  floated  over 
the  mercy-seat  between  the  cherubim  in  the 
wilderness  tabernacle.  We  perhaps  have  all 
such  moods  as  make  us  apt  to  wonder  why 
Jesus  did  not  prolong  His  stay  in  the  bosom 


THE   GAIN   TO   LOVE  243 

of  His  Church,  and  we  inquire  with  a  measure 
of  impatience  why  His  visible  presence  has 
not  been  perpetuated  on  earth,  or  why  He 
does  not  periodically  disturb  the  awful  still- 
ness of  His  unseen  working? 

Many,  perhaps,  permit  themselves  to  be 
touched  with  such  millenarian  outlooking  for 
His  appearance  as  savours  more  of  the  old 
than  of  the  new  dispensation ;  and  many,  too, 
may  grudge  the  first  disciples  their  singular 
honour  of  a  visibly  familiar  intercourse.  But 
though  we  may  not  disparage  that  remarkable 
privilege,  we  may  well  question  if  it  really 
were  a  superlative  advantage  for  our  love, 
any  more  than  for  our  faith.  Perhaps  some 
fondly  fancy  that  if  they  had  walked  by  the 
side  of  Jesus,  conversed  with  Him,  sat  like 
Mary  at  His  feet,  drinking  in  His  words  of 
wisdom  as  they  dropped  like  the  rain,  and 
distilled  from  His  lips  like  refreshing  dew, 
met  the  gracious  glances  of  His  love-speaking 
eyes,  or  gazed  with  rapt  vision  on  His  '  human 
face  Divine ' — that  then  and  therefore  the 
sluices  of  their  inner  being  would  burst  open, 
and  they  would  have  poured  out  a  full  tide 
of  sacred  libation  at  the  Saviour's  feet ;  that 
then  and  therefore  their  minds  would  have 
risen  to  rapture,  and  their  feeblest  throb  would 


244    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

have  been  enthusiasm.  Vain  notion  !  and  how 
altogether  contrary  to  actual  facts  ! 

But  even  if  it  were  true,  what  an  egregious 
mistake,  to  suppose  that  flutter  and  excite- 
ment, or  the  ebulhtions  of  even  friendly 
feelintr  and  interest,  are  themselves  real  love 
to  Christ !  Evidently  not  without  a  purposed 
bearing  on  such  a  fancy  does  the  Apostle 
Peter  introduce  the  words  of  this  text  as 
a  suggestive  protest:  *  Jesus  Christ,  Whom 
having  not  seen,  ye  love.' 

For  while  he  is  running  a  contrast  between 
the  present  condition  of  Christian  life  and 
that  prospective  one  in  which  love  to  Christ 
shall  duly  attain  its  coveted  ecstasy  of  vision, 
he  brings  forward  in  so  prominent  a  light  this 
temporary  invisibleness  of  the  Saviour,  as  if 
to  intimate  it  must  play  some  part,  more  or 
less  important,  in  the  economy  of  our  love 
to  the  Redeemer. 

The  expression  'having  not  seen,'  though 
introduced  parenthetically,  is  singularly  arrest- 
ing— an  evident  reminiscence  or  echo  of  the 
Lord's  own  words,  *  It  is  expedient  for  you 
that  I  go  away ' ;  only  that  whereas  the  prin- 
ciple was  enunciated  by  our  Lord  in  general 
terms,  it  is  now  applied  in  one  particular 
direction.      With    consummate    fitness    it    is 


THE   GAIN   TO   LOVE  245 

brought  to  bear  specifically  on  that  grace  of 
love  by  which  Peter  had  himself  been  tested 
at  the  lake-side  of  Galilee,  in  that  home-thrust 
of  a  question,  *  Simon,  son  of  Jonas,  lovest 
thou  Me  ? '  For  while  the  Apostles  may  not 
quote  the  very  words  of  the  Master  in  their 
Epistles,  they  must,  of  course,  often  reflect 
their  meaning,  and  often  reduplicate  upon 
them.  And  so,  if  Christ's  corporeal  absence 
were  expedient  as  a  wholesome  discipline  for 
all  the  graces,  love  will  share  in  the  benefit. 
What  touching  and  satisfactory  evidence  is 
afforded  by  the  present  words  that  the  Apostle 
Peter,  now  that  he  knew  his  Saviour  better, 
was  cordially  reconciled  to  that  once  bewil- 
dering announcement  respecting  the  Lord's 
needful  disappearance ! 

Some  may  doubt  the  possibility  of  loving 
One  we  have  never  seen,  and  may  regard 
all  such  love  as  almost  visionary.  But  that 
this  is  an  entire  mistake  is  readily  evinced. 
For  as  a  matter  of  fact  all  are  aware  of 
loving  or  having  had  love  drawn  out  to 
other  than  objects  of  sight.  The  blind  have 
no  difficulty  in  loving  those  they  have  never 
seen,  and  loving  as  truly  and  affectionately 
as  those  who  have  sight.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  it  is  not   sense,  but   mental  conception. 


246    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

that  kindles  the  inner  affection  of  love. 
Lower  sense  may  aid  affection,  by  facilitating 
and  vivifying  mental  conception.  It  is  in 
this  way  that  memorials,  gifts,  and  other 
suggestive  associations  may  aid  in  kindling 
or  in  sustaining  love,  or  rendering  its  exercise 
more  easy. 

It  is  needful  here  to  realize  what  love,  in  its 
truest  and  highest  sense,  properly  is  ;  whether 
in  its  nature,  its  expression,  or  its  aim. 
As  to  its  nature  or  essence,  love  is  '  the  bond 
of  perfectness ' — the  shorthand  name  for  all 
possible,  all  credible,  all  conceivable  ex- 
cellencies. Love  is  the  golden  circlet  in 
which  are  set  all  moral  perfections,  like  costly 
gems — the  firmament  that  seems  to  hold 
within  itself  the  jewelled  starry  host.  No 
excellency  is  wanting  from  it,  in  its  highest 
and  divinest  form. 

Justice,  indeed,  is  not  love  ;  but  that  cannot 
be  full  or  complete  love  which  is  capable 
of  an  unjust  thouglit,  or  word,  or  act. 
Faithfulness  is  not  love  ;  but  how  poor  and 
incomplete  the  love  that  is  without  fidelity  ? 
Wisdom  is  not  love  ;  but  what  kind  of  love 
were  that  from  which  wisdom  is  excluded  ? 

And  so  with  every  other  excellence.  Love 
is  *  the   bond  of  perfectness  ' — anything  short 


THE   GAIN   TO   LOVE  247 

of  this  is  some  corruption,  as  selfishness  is 
of  true  self-love ;  or  lust  is  of  sensuous  or 
sexual  love. 

And  as  love  is  an  expression  of  relation- 
ship, it  will  of  course  manifest  itself  variously, 
according  to  the  relations  in  which  it  stands. 
A  father  loves  his  son,  and  so  his  paternal 
love  looks  down  with  paternal  fondness,  care, 
and  counsel.  The  love  in  a  child  looks  up 
with  reverence,  confidingness,  and  obedience. 
The  love  is  the  same  ;  its  expression  differs. 
But,  as  love  is  always  and  everywhere  the 
outgoing  movement  of  the  nature,  it  will  in- 
variably show  itself  as  the  disposition  to 
give  or  impart  itself,  so  as  to  bless  and 
benefit.  Thus  '  God  so  loved  the  world 
that  He  gave  His  only-begotten  Son  [at 
what  cost  and  sacrifice  to  Himself,  who  can 
tell  ?],  that  whosoever  believeth  in  Him  should 
not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life.'  So 
'  Christ  gave  Himself  for  us,'  holding  nothing 
back  that  either  He  could  give  or  that  we 
could  receive. 

As  to  love's  aim,  what  can  that  aim  be 
but  to  draw  everything  into  affinity  and 
fellowship  with  itself?  All  perfect  love  is 
love  for  love's  sake  ;  love  in  the  interests  of 
love;   love  that  rejoices  and  rests  in  loving. 


248    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

What  is  the  end  and  aim  of  all  highest 
love  but  simply  to  produce  and  maintain 
Hke-minded  love  ;  to  beget  and  breed  a  love 
akin  to  itself — not  simply  a  love  that  goes 
out  in  pity,  commiseration,  mercy,  or  com- 
passion, but  a  love  that  strives  to  awaken 
a  love  that  will  richly  afford  complacency, 
approval,  delight,  and  ineffable  satisfaction ;  a 
love  that  finds  itself  reflected  in  all  that  con- 
stitutes true  and  perfect  bliss  and  blessedness  ? 
And  it  may  help  both  to  quicken  our  own 
love  to  the  Lord,  and  help  us  to  under- 
stand what  love  to  Christ  really  is,  as  well 
as  conciliate  our  minds  to  this  dispensation, 
if  in  prosecution  of  our  subject  in  general 
we  now  endeavour  to  reckon  up  some  possible 
or  designed  influences,  or  count  the  gain  of 
Christ's  unseenness,  so  far  as  our  personal 
love  to  Him  is  concerned  in  particular.  For 
as  the  painter  knows  how  to  produce  by 
a  simple  touch  strangely  heightened  effects, 
without  altering  the  previous  substratum  of 
colour,  may  not  the  invisibleness  of  Christ 
be  both  fitted  and  intended,  like  such  a 
simple,  artistic  device,  to  fix  in  the  fore- 
gi'ound  the  most  desirable  features  of  love 
to  the  Redeemer  ?  JNIay  it  not  aid  in  making 
it  j)ure?%  truer,  and  tvort/der,  giving  to  it   a 


THE   GAIN   TO   LOVE  249 

chastened  and  mellowed  tone  of  inexpressible 
depth  and  delicacy,  casting  over  it  an  in- 
describable hue,  and  an  otherwise  unattainable 
bloom,  helping  thus  to  make  it  evangelical 
in  its  origin,  adoring  in  its  spirit,  and  para- 
mount and  practical  in  its  sway  ? 

(ii)  The  invisibleness  of  Christ  has  a  mani- 
fest tendency  and  adaptation  to  secure  the 
most  correct  formation  of  our  love  to  Him. 
It  facilitates  the  birth  and  development  of  our 
love  as  an  evangelical  principle  of  attachment. 
There  is  a  vast  difference  between  the  love 
due  to  Christ  and  that  which  is  demanded 
from  us  by  any  one  else.  The  love  which 
Christ  requires  is  something  quite  unique,  and 
is  attainable  only  by  regarding  Him  imiqiielij. 
That  form  of  religionism  which  finds  its  con- 
summation in  dilating  on  the  candour,  faith- 
fulness, and  benevolence  of  Jesus,  and  then 
stops  short,  is  not  only  a  very  narrow,  but  a 
cracked  and  blemished  mould  from  which  to 
take  a  cast  of  love  to  Christ,  while  the  love 
itself  will  be  correspondingly  scarred  with  un- 
seemly flaws.  No  such  love  which  expatiates 
predominantly  on  those  qualities  common  to 
our  Lord  with  perfected  saints  can  be  dis- 
tinctively love  to  Christ.  Perhaps  it  is  not 
needless  to  insist  on  the  truism  that  it  is  Jesus 


250    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

the  Christ  Whom  we  are  to  love.  It  is  as  the 
Saviour  we  are  to  love  Him.  And  hence 
the  Apostle  insists  in  the  present  passage  on 
our  love  being  exerted  towards  Christ  con- 
sidered as  the  foundation  laid  for  the  'salvation 
of  our  souls.'  Christ  known  and  believed  in 
as  the  alone  Saviour — this  is  the  main  factor 
that  awakens  real  and  acceptable  love  to  Him, 
the  evangelical  love  tliat  alone  will  be  truly 
agreeable  and  acceptable  to  Him. 

We  hear  much,  in  these  days,  of  the  person 
of  Christ  being  the  essence  of  the  Gospel,  and 
the  need  of  reconstructing  the  Gospel  around 
that  person.  If  by  these  and  similar  repre- 
sentations it  be  meant  that  our  love  must 
embrace  Him  as  the  one  alone  and  living 
Saviour,  that  our  affections  are  not  to  be 
roused  by  a  system  of  thought  which  deals 
with  Christ  as  an  ancient  and  remote  per- 
sonage, while  His  actual  vitalizing  presence 
is  ignored,  we  have  reason  to  rejoice,  so  long 
as  the  result  aimed  at  and  achieved  is  to 
intensify  the  glow  of  our  love  by  lodging  in 
the  Christian  mind  a  more  vivid  conception 
of  His  living  presence  and  grace.  Not  what 
was  He,  but  what  is  He  ? — what  am  I  to  Him, 
and  what  is  He  to  me  ?  That  is  the  constant 
urgent,  and   practical   question  with  which  I 


THE   GAIN   TO   LOVE  251 

have  to  deal,  while  not  omitting  nor  forgetting 
more  preliminary  questions  of  serious  moment. 
This  will  prevent  our  making  of  Him  a  mere 
hazy  personage  in  the  musty  annals  of  the 
past. 

But  if  their  secret  purport  be  to  create  an 
intelligent  dislike  to  saving  truth  by  vague 
and  sentimental  vapourings  about  the  person 
of  Christ,  and  to  get  quit  of  imagined  per- 
plexity and  stiffness  of  doctrine,  it  behoves 
us  to  remember  that  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  Saviour's  official  name,  and  that  personal 
relation  to  Christ  is  not  any  romantic  attach- 
ment, but  such  as  grasps  Him  in  this  specific 
aspect. 

^¥orthy  and  acceptable  love  to  Christ  must 
be  love  to  Him  for  what  He  distinctively  and 
exclusively  is,  for  what  He  alone  is  to  us, 
the  one  Deliverer  and  Saviour  from  our  sins. 
It  is  Christ  alone  that  saves.  Not  Christ 
and  the  Church,  not  Christ  and  the  Bible, 
not  Christ  and  the  Sacraments.  The  Church, 
the  Bible,  and  the  Sacraments  are  all  of  vital 
value  and  importance  in  their  own  place.  But 
their  proper  place  is  ever  subordinate  to  Christ 
Himself,  and  never  to  be  put  on  the  same 
level  with  Him.  They  are  helps — necessary 
helps — towards  our  finding  and  reaching  Him. 


252    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

But  they  must  not  come  into  competition  with 
Him,  still  less  be  used  to  supplant  or  obscure 
men's  views  of  Him. 

True,  we  are  not  to  omit  in  our  love  a 
regard  to  His  personality,  for  the  text  em- 
phatically says,  *  Whom  ye  love ' ;  but  we  love 
not  His  person,  if  we  love  Him  not  in  His 
saving  offices  ;  for  it  is  not  less  emphatically 
testified  that  it  is  Jesus  Christ  AVhom  we  are 
to  love.  Take  an  analogous  case.  If  we  love 
a  patriot  with  a  love  he  would  esteem  and 
approve,  we  must  love  him  as  a  patriot.  Our 
love  must  be  evoked  by  his  patriotism.  Many 
might  have  their  admiration  for  him  drawn 
out  by  his  stalwart  bearing,  his  generous  and 
manly  expression,  his  dignified  mien,  or  some 
other  lovable  qualities  or  attributes,  apart  from 
his  patriotism  altogether ;  but  he  would  be  the 
first  to  reject  the  incommensurate  homage. 
And  so  the  unique  aspect  in  which  Christ 
is  presented  to  the  embrace  of  saving  faith  is 
the  very  aspect  in  which  He  both  decisively 
wins  and  imperatively  demands  our  love. 
These  two,  faith  and  love,  being  coincident 
in  their  basis,  if  our  love  is  to  be  evangelical 
it  must  first  be  evangelized ;  for  if  we  are  to 
love  Christ,  we  must  learn  to  look  on  Him 
with   other  eyes  than   those   of  sense.     Our 


THE   GAIN   TO   LOVE  253 

love  must  not  be  carnal,  but  spiritual  in  its 
principle — not  a  mere  natural  affection,  nor 
the  mere  instinct  of  a  common  earthly  rela- 
tionship. Doubtless  our  Lord  was  loved  as 
the  endeared  member  of  a  domestic  circle, 
beloved  as  a  neighbour,  and  sought  after  as 
a  benevolently  befriending  presence — and  all 
this  was  befitting,  right,  and  natural,  but  none 
the  less  insufficient  in  its  grounds  and  shallow 
in  its  motives,  though  worthy  enough  in  its 
place. 

Many  saw  Christ  w^ho  did  not  know  Him, 
and  had  no  desire  to  know  Him  ;  many  knew 
Him  who  in  no  respect  whatever  loved  Him ; 
and  many  loved  Him  after  a  sort,  but  from 
the  meanest  considerations,  or  on  the  basis 
of  the  merest  adventitious  circumstances  which 
usually  evoke  the  likings  and  attachments  of 
human  friendships  and  acquaintanceships, 
whereas  evangelical  love  to  the  Redeemer 
must  be  based  on  a  saving  relationship,  and  be 
correlative  with  the  union  implied  in  a  spiritual 
fellowship.  That  personal  relationship  to  the 
Saviour  which  alone  accounts  for  evangelical 
love  can  evidently  never  be  created  nor 
constituted  by  physical  contiguity  or  bodily 
nearness  in  space.  His  incognito  can  never 
be  penetrated   by  the  eye  of  flesh,  nor  His 


^54    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

functions  as  Saviour  be  recognized  through 
the  avenues  of  the  senses. 

The  historical  fact  of  the  redemption,  trans- 
lated by  the  power  of  faith  into  an  individual 
experience,  is  the  primary  root  of  love  in  our 
hearts  to  Christ,  so  that  the  corporeal  visible- 
ness  of  the  Saviour  is  not  any  chief  source 
from  which  such  love  would  draw  its  nourish- 
ment, as  it  is  not  the  influence  from  which 
it  can  be  generated.  The  Apostles  therefore 
set  no  store  by  any  physical  presence  of  the 
Master  in  this  connection — more  valuable 
springs  of  evangelic  personal  attachment  to 
the  Redeemer  welling  up  forcibly  otherwise 
and  from  other  considerations  altogether. 
The  love  due  to  our  Lord  hinges  not  on 
any  bodily  vision,  external  intercourse,  or 
corporeal  impression. 

Does  not  this  help  to  explain  why  the 
inspired  writers  have  not  described  the  bodily 
appearance  of  our  Saviour  ;  and  have  not  only 
not  favoured  us  with  any  photographic  de- 
lineation or  detailed  portraiture,  but  have 
entirely  avoided  any  passing  hints  or  reminis- 
cences of  that  kind  ?  While  most  gifted  poets 
have  stretched  their  imaginations  to  catch  a 
conception,  however  faint,  of  that  face  which, 
though  more   marred  than  tliat  of  any  man, 


THE   GAIN   TO   LOVE  255 

was  the  face  of  One  who  was  in  the  highest 
sense  '  fairer  than  the  children  of  men,'  though 
the  most  variously  endowed  painters  have 
struggled  to  embody  on  canvas  their  own 
ideal,  and  though  there  be  scattered  abroad 
some  feigned  likeness,  with  kindred  spurious 
relics,  there  is  a  profound  and  significant 
silence  on  the  part  of  the  Evangelists.  Such 
delineations  would  only  have  gratified  a 
prurient  curiosity,  and,  it  may  be,  have 
encouraged  a  set  of  poor  pitiable  superstitious 
affections,  as  the  bones  of  IMoses  would  have 
done,  if  they  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the 
Israelites,  without  tending  to  enhance  in  any 
measure  that  sort  of  love  which  is  the  alone 
befitting  exponent  of  obligations  and  claims 
arising  out  of  the  one  special  unique  and  saving 
relationship.  Such  a  union  with  the  Redeemer 
is  presupposed  in  true  love,  and  it  is  very 
observable  in  that  section  of  our  Lord's  farewell 
discourse  in  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  John, 
where  Jesus  Himself  is  engaged  in  expounding 
this  connection  of  thought. 

The  idea  of  union  is  indeed  the  grand 
underlying  idea  of  that  whole  discourse  ;  but 
whereas  in  the  beginning  of  it  Christ  dwells 
on  the  most  mysterious  of  all  unions  or 
relations — that  subsisting  between  the  Father 


256    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

and  Son,  with  the  Spirit's  relation  to  both— 
and  at  close  of  it,  or  rather  of  the  concluding 
prayer,  dwells  on  the  spiritual  union  or  re- 
lationship of  His  people  with  one  another, 
He  occupies  the  central  portion  of  the  discourse 
with  another  aspect  of  union — that  which 
subsists  between  Himself  and  His  disciples ; 
and  as  the  hour  approached  when  He  must 
begin  to  be  corporeally  separated  from  His 
disciples,  the  more  vividly  would  He  impress 
on  their  minds  the  need  and  reality  of  such 
a  mutual  relationship  as  could  not  be  violated 
by  His  disappearance,  and  as  could  alone 
generate  true  love  for  Him.  Love  is  the 
outgrowth  of  vital  union  to  Him  as  the  source 
and  channel  of  spiritual  life.  So  He  has 
commanded  and  will  ever  command  the  love 
of  milhons  who  have  never  seen  Him.  For 
it  is  love  that  begets  love,  and  this  is  inde- 
pendent of  mere  sight.  It  is  not  the  sight 
of  the  gracious  smile  on  His  face,  not  the 
outward  grace  of  His  form,  not  the  winsome- 
ness  of  His  manner — not  any  or  all  of  these 
and  such-like  provocatives  of  ordinary  affection, 
that  can  sway  and  move  the  hearts  of  untold 
myriads  in  one  mighty  impulse  of  love  for 
Him. 

It  is  this  knowledge   of  His  vast  and  un 


THE   GAIN  TO  LOVE  257 

matched  suffering,  dying,  saving,  love  for  us 
as  sinners  that  woos  and  wins  our  love  for 
Him.  Anything  more  than  this,  anything 
short  of  it,  may  be  fondness,  may  be  a  kind 
of  *  painted  regard,'  but  can  at  best  be  a 
shadowy  and  indistinct,  if  not  even  fictitious 
homage.  Our  love  to  Christ  must  be  higher 
than  the  simple-hearted,  well-meant,  chnging 
devotement  of  this  same  Apostle,  which 
dictated  in  the  interests  of  sense  a  dissuasive 
against  our  Lord's  intimated  death,  thereby 
manifesting  that  the  instinct  of  a  merely 
natural  or  unevangelized  affection  is  up  in 
arms  against  the  great  act  of  Christ's  redeeming 
plan. 

The  invisibleness  of  the  Saviour  is  an  'aid 
to  faith,'  and  therefore  to  love.  Earthly 
yearnings  seem  quite  incompatible  with  any 
profound  appreciation  of  His  saving  work. 
They  tend  to  take  off  the  mind  from  that 
inner  essential  part,  and  in  so  far  as  they  are 
cherished  there  seems  a  diminution  of  our 
capability  to  attend  to  those  saving  truths 
on  which,  as  on  a  pedestal,  He  Himself  is 
ever  held  up  to  our  view.  Even  if  He  were 
visible  to  the  eye  of  sense,  faith  in  saving  truth 
as  it  is  in  Jesus,  and  faith  only,  could  present 
His  own  self  to  the  arms  of  our  love.     Only 

17 


258    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

truth  or  doctrine  is  the  atmosphere,  the  needful, 
the  indispensable  medium  of  vision,  and  apart 
from  it  Christ  cannot  fulfil  His  promise,  '  I 
will  manifest  Myself  unto  you.'  His  very 
bodily  absence  is  fitted  to  keep  men's  hearts 
and  consciences  more  in  contact  w^ith  Him 
simply  as  the  Saviour,  and  more  in  the  direct 
line  of  complacency  in  Him,  gratitude  towards 
Him,  and  sympathetic  congeniality  with  Him, 
in  His  redeeming  plans  and  pursuits,  which 
is  the  groundwork  and  kernel  of  the  love  He 
demands/ 

(iii)  The  invisibleness  of  our  Saviour  has  a 
manifest  tendency  and  adaptation  to  secure  the 
fittest  tone  and  attitude  in  our  evangelical  love 
to    Christ.      That   tone   must   be   profoundly 

*  All  this  seems  to  have  been  instinctively  grasped  and  realized 
by  the  great  Napoleon  ;  and  though  we  may  not  guarantee  the 
literal  accuracy  of  much  that  he  is  alleged  to  have  spoken,  it  is 
enough  for  our  present  purpose  that  he  could  have  with  perfect 
truth  uttered  all  that  is  here  put  into  his  lips,  whether  he  did 
use  such  words  or  not.  In  conversing  one  day  at  St.  Helena 
with  Count  de  Montholon,  he  is  reported  to  have  said  : 
'  Alexander,  Caesar,  Charlemagne,  and  1  myself  have  founded 
great  empires,  but  upon  what  did  these  erections  of  our  genius 
depend  ?  Upon  force  !  Jesus  alone  founded  His  empire  upon 
love,  and  to  this  very  day  millions  would  die  for  Him.  ...  I 
think  I  understand  something  of  liuman  nature,  and  I  tell  you, 
all  these  were  men,  and  I  am  a  man  ;  none  else  is  like  Him  ; 
Jesus  Christ  was  more  than  a  man.  ...  I  have  inspired 
multitudes  with  such  an  enthusiastic  devotion  that  tliey  would 
have  died  for  me  ;  but  to  do  this  it  was  necessary  that  I  should 
be  visibly  present,  with  the  electric  influence  of  my  looks,  of  my 
woi"dSj  of  my  voice.     When  I  saw  men  and  they  saw  me  and 


THE   GAIN   TO   LOVE  259 

religious,  and  the  attitude  must  be  that  of 
adoring  homage.  For  love  to  the  I^ord  Jesus 
Christ  is  a  distinctively  reVigiouH  principle — the 
central  habit  of  Christian  piety.  It  must  learn 
to  utter  itself  in  the  language  of  doxology : 
*  Unto  Him  that  loved  us,  and  washed  us  from 
our  sins  in  His  own  blood,  and  hath  made  us 
kings  and  priests  unto  God  and  His  Father ; 
unto  Him  be  glory  and  dominion  for  ever  and 
ever.  Amen.'  Love  to  Christ  must  be  com- 
prehensive in  its  sweep,  if  it  would  be  correct 
in  its  scope.  It  is  the  Lord  in  His  fulness — 
it  is  the  whole  Jesus  Christ  round  Whom  our 
religious  affections  must  cluster  —  and  His 
person,  though  one,  is  complex.  His  being 
embraces  two  full  and  complete  natures — 
Divine  and  human. 

I  was  speaking  to  them  in  their  sights  I  could  light  up  the 
flame  of  self-devotion  to  me  in  their  hearts.  .  .  .  Christ  alone 
has  succeeded  in  so  raising  the  mind  of  man  toward  the  unseen 
that  it  becomes  insensible  to  the  barriers  of  time  and  space. 
Across  a  chasm  of  eighteen  hundred  years  Jesus  Christ  makes  a 
demand  which  is  above  all  others  difficult  to  satisfy  ;  He  asks 
for  that  which  a  philosopher  may  often  seek  in  vain  at  the  hands 
of  his  friends,  or  a  father  of  his  children,  or  a  bride  of  her  spouse, 
or  a  man  of  his  brother.  He  asks  it  unconditionally  ;  and 
forthwith  His  demand  is  granted.  ^Vonderful  !  In  defiance  of 
time  and  space,  the  soul  of  man,  with  all  its  powers  and  faculties, 
becomes  an  annexation  to  the  empire  of  Christ.  All  who 
sincerely  believe  in  Him  experience  that  remarkable  supernatural 
love  for  Him.  .  .  .  Time,  the  great  destroyer,  is  powerless  to 
extinguish  this  sacred  flame  ;  time  can  neither  exhaust  its  strength 
nor  put  a  limit  to  its  range.  This  is  what  proves  to  me  quite 
convincingly  the  Divinity  of  Jesus  Christ.' 


260    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

And  our  love  is  not  love  to  Him  in  Himself, 
if  we  ignore  either  ;  while  to  show  that  our 
love  must  be  prevailingly  high-pitched  and 
religiously  reverential,  we  may  bear  in  mind 
that  the  early  disciples  witnessed  only  a  tran- 
sient phase  of  His  human  exterior — human 
nature  humbled  and  suffering,  and  not,  as  now, 
in  that  glorified  state  which  He  has  assumed 
as  the  fixed,  eternal  form  more  fully  consonant 
with  His  Divinity.  We  must  have  regard  to 
Him  as  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  How  para- 
doxical, yet  true,  that  the  very  invisibleness  of 
Christ  helps  to  disclose  Him  to  our  view  ! 
How  strangely  cramping  the  effect  of  His 
lowly  appearance  on  the  attachment  of  the 
disciples  1  Hence  the  blame  attachable  to 
that  Church  which  would  draw  dispropoiiioned 
attention  to  the  idea  of  the  I^ord  having 
been  a  tender  infant  in  His  mother's  arms, 
so  as  to  divert  the  adoring  love  away  from 
Him  to  her,  who,  by  the  steady  and  uniform 
suggestion  of  such  a  relationship,  is  exhibited 
with  a  superior  authority  and  influence ; 
whereas  Jesus  was  a  child  in  His  mother's 
arms  but  a  very  few  months.  That  was 
only  a  passing  phase  of  His  being  and 
experience ;  needful  to  know ;  useful  thank- 
fully  to   recall,    but    not    to    be    obtrusively 


THE   GAIN   TO   LOVE  261 

presented,  as  though  it  were  some  permanent 
or  abiding  result. 

Such  a  mode  of  stereotyping  the  infancy  of 
the  Saviour  is  not  merely  a  most  vulgar  impro- 
priety, but  it  sadly  interferes  with  a  rightly 
grounded  adoring  love/  If  it  be  meant  to 
stimulate  the  lofty  homage  of  reverently  loving 
hearts,  it  is  a  bold  attempt  to  undo  the  very 
benefit  that  is  couched  in  Christ's  invisibleness. 
And  if  it  be  pleaded  that  it  presents  the  right 
object  of  w^orship  to  the  Christian  eye,  the 
counterplea  is  at  once  suggested  that  even  the 
worship  of  the  right  object  may  be  most  illegi- 
timately practised.  Who  knows  not  that  the 
true  object  may  be  worshipped  in  the  worst 
spirit,  if  not  of  idolatry,  at  least  of  superstition  ? 
Does  not  the  obtrusion  of  Christ's  infant  form 
present  through  the  eye  a  temptation  to  offer 
the  Redeemer  a  different  kind  of  loving  homage 
from  real  Divine  worship  ?  There  are  not  two 
kinds  of  Divine  reverence — and  the  love  which 
religiously  worships   and   adores   the   exalted 

'  Those  who  know  the  infinite  tenderness  and  gentleness  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Himself  can  never  feel  the  need  of  any  mother 
intercessor  or  feminine  helper^  however  ^  full  of  grace '  she  may 
be.  And  as  for  the  need  and  propriety  of  reverencing  with 
worship  and  obeisance  the  Lord's  mother,  the  devout  soul  that 
reverences  and  obeys  a  human  priest  might  as  suitably  plead 
the  need  for  reverencing  and  obeying  the  beloved  priest's  mother 
too. 


262     CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

Lord  stands  on  a  totally  different  footing  from 
that  of  hero-worship.  Let  us  ever  deprecate 
any  approach  to  what  might  confound  the  one 
with  the  other.  Hero-worship  is  admiration, 
indeed  ;  but  Divine  worship  is  adoration.  No 
doubt,  whatever  sentiments  of  admiration  we 
may  gather  aroimd  beloved  or  revered  names 
must  cluster  no  less  around  the  Saviour  of 
men — but  these  are  utterly  inadequate  in  this 
case.  The  love  He  demands  is  adoring  love 
— a  love  that  proffers  a  truly  religious  worship 
and  homage. 

How  disadvantageously  circumstanced  were 
the  early  disciples,  by  reason  of  their  close 
contact  with  the  Lord's  humble  condition 
and  bodily  presence,  for  directing  their  love, 
however  real,  into  a  profoundly  religious 
channel !  So  Jesus  said  to  Mary  at  the 
sepulchre,  '  Touch  JNIe  not ;  for  I  am  not 
yet  ascended.'  He  tenderly  yet  firmly  rejects 
and  forbids  the  well-meant,  but  wholly  in- 
commensurate homage.  His  human  form  was 
yet  in  its  temporary  and  transition  stage — 
not  yet  received  up  into  glory,  nor  fashioned 
yet  as  a  body  of  abiding  and  completed 
perfectness  in  a  final  and  heavenly  state. 

What  a  conjunction  of  contrary  influences  ! 
either   {a)  introducing  some  confusing  inter- 


THE   GAllSl   TO   LOVE  263 

ference  with  their  adoring  attachment ;  or 
(b)  enhancing  the  difficulty  of  that  unquaHfied 
and  unresisting  subjection  to  Christ's  Divine 
authority  which  is  essential  in  our  love  to 
Him. 

(a)  In  the  former  case,  the  danger  to  the 
first  disciples  lay  in  their  love  to  the  adorable 
Redeemer  leading  to  a  mere  localizing  of 
His  Deity— as  though  God  was  transmuted 
into  man,  or  man  transformed  into  God. 
For  the  love  which  the  disciples  had  to 
their  Lord  was  a  love  which  naturally  con- 
templated Him  in  a  chief  degree  on  the 
side  of  His  human  nature — and  even  though 
they  apprehended  at  last  the  indwelling 
Deity,  the  balance  of  impression  lay  rather 
on  that  side  with  which  they  were  most 
familiarized,  which  veiled  rather  than  revealed 
its  glory.  And  if  their  love  in  its  com- 
paratively untutored  pupilage  grasped  more 
the  human  element,  or  fed  itself  on  the 
visible  and  tangible  nature,  would  it  be 
sufficiently  religious  in  its  movement,  or  suffi- 
ciently accurate  in  its  ground  ?  We  seem 
to  see  this  false  and  misleading  tendency  in 
a  most  painfully  exaggerated  form  in  the  case 
of  those  who  demand  a  corporeal  presence 
in  the  sacramental  elements — a  craving  which, 


264    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

singularly  enough,  develops  itself  in  worship- 
ping the  supposed  materialized  presence  in 
the  hands  of  a  priest,  rather  than  the  Divine 
and  spiritual  person  Himself,  as  presented  to 
the  eye  of  faith.  The  mind,  in  such  religious 
service,  often  gets  no  farther  than  the  sensuous 
object  before  it,  and  finds  a  real  difficulty  in 
worship,  unless  when  that  object  is  afresh 
presented,  in  that  particular  materialized  form. 
Genuine  worship,  on  the  other  hand,  is  not 
dependent  on  place,  tangible  object,  or  time — 
it  is  spiritual  and  cosmopolitan.  The  un- 
seenness  of  Christ  seems,  therefore,  to  afford 
scope  for  the  movement  of  an  adoring 
religious  love  in  entire  harmony  with  all 
spiritual  worship.  By  His  removal  we  have 
the  benefit  of  a  Christianized  imagination,  and 
are  better  able  to  understand  and  profit  by 
His  being  everywhere  a  presence  with  us ;  an 
unlocalized,  all-engrossing  object  of  reverential 
love. 

Any  carnal  introduction  of  the  Saviour 
necessitates  a  kind  of  ritualism  that  is  of  the 
earth,  earthy,  belonging  to  the  outer  court 
of  the  temple — and  it  is  the  dogma  of  a 
corporeal  presence  that  flits  here  and  there 
in  the  sacramental  elements  which  is  the 
foundation  for  such  a  mechanical  and  ritual- 


THE   GAIN   TO   LOVE  265 

istic,  as  distinct  from  a  reasonable  or  in- 
tellectual, order  of  service.  Thereby  the 
assembly  of  Christian  disciples  is  transformed 
into  a  'worldly  sanctuary,'  and  homage  to 
the  Lord  is  rendered  in  the  fashion  of  what 
one  has  called  '  Lama '  worship — a  form  of 
adoring  a  human  personage  that  obtains 
among  degraded  Asiatic  tribes.  These  two 
things  go  together — a  materialized  presence  of 
the  Lord  and  that  whole  series  of  religious 
services  consisting  of  mystic  movements, 
genuflections,  manipulations,  gorgeous  apparel, 
mumblings  and  mutterings, incense,  candles, and 
other  mechanical  observ^ances  and  accessories, 
fit,  perhaps,  for  a  court  display,  or  the  presence 
of  a  visible  king,  but  utterly  incongruous 
before  the  unseen  Lord.  And  so  Christ's 
invisibleness  is  a  standing  protest  against 
that  ritualistic  devotion  which,  to  us,  con- 
stituted as  we  here  are  on  earth,  must  savour 
of  the  spirit  of  idolatry — that  spirit  which 
moves  and  lives  in  scenic  and  theatric  show. 
His  invisibleness  has  its  own  salutary  in- 
fluence in  disciplining  us  in  the  high  art  of 
loving  Christ  as  Christ,  in  the  full  effulgence 
of  His  own  proper  and  glorified  person,  not 
as  He  was  only,  but  as  He  now  is  and  is 
to  be. 


266    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

(h)  Again,  by  His  outward  appearance  the 
early  disciples'  danger  lay  in  their  love  being 
a  sentimental  feeling  of  attachment  rather 
than  what  it  should  have  been,  a  principled 
and  paramount  affection  in  their  souls.  How 
disadvantageously  these  first  disciples  were 
circumstanced  from  this  point  of  view  !  Per- 
petually familiar  with  His  suffering  condition 
and  lowly  form,  even  when  they  recognized 
the  superhuman  glory  they' were  tempted  to 
use  the  freedoms  and  familiarities  of  an 
apparently  proximate  equality.  True,  it  was 
their  distinguished  duty  and  privilege  to  love 
Him  as  their  best  and  dearest  earthly  friend ; 
and  it  is  no  less  our  prerogative  to  glory  in 
His  incarnate  form  and  human  nature,  to 
love  Him  as  One  Who  is  '  not  ashamed  to 
call  us  brethren ' ;  but  not  as  if  this  mutual 
human  friendship  must  exercise  itself  on  the 
same  plane  in  His  case  and  ours.  The  love 
of  a  parent  to  the  child  will  wear  an  ap- 
pearance widely  different  from  that  of  the 
child  to  the  parents,  though  the  affection  or 
principle  be  in  both  cases  the  same :  the  one 
looks  down  with  tender  interest,  and  watchful 
care ;  the  other  looks  ujj  with  reverential, 
trustful,  and  submissive  regard.  And  it  is 
not  difficult  to  conceive  that  the  latter   ex- 


THE   GAIN   TO   LOVE  267 

pression  of  love  must  be  the  mould  after 
which  our  attachment  to  the  exalted 
Redeemer  is  to  be  fashioned  and  consolidated. 
Our  emotion  must  be  congruous  with  the 
whole  view  of  Christ's  person,  and  the  glory 
of  both  His  primary  state  and  His  acquired 
mediatorial  position.  And  it  would  appear 
as  if  our  Lord  had  to  adopt  expedients  to 
enable  the  disciples  to  overcome  the  tempta- 
tions incident  to  their  human  fellowship  with 
Him,  to  broaden  their  contracted  apprehen- 
sion, to  check  their  undue  familiarity,  and 
to  raise  their  apprehensions  to  a  higher  level. 
It  has  been  ingeniously  suggested  that  this 
may  have  been  a  leading  purpose  of  His 
transfiguration,  and  of  that  peculiar  mode  of 
dealing  with  the  disciples  in  the  interval 
between  the  resurrection  and  ascension. 

Without  destroying  that  aspect  of  love 
which  had  regard  to  Him  as  a  man,  a  friend, 
and  a  brother,  and  was  bound  up  in  a  human 
earthly  intimacy,  upon  this  He  had  to  super- 
induce love  of  a  purely  religious  order,  which 
should  be  the  paramount  affection  and  imperial 
impulse  of  the  soul.  Our  Lord  after  His 
resurrection  appeared  only  at  intervals,  and 
these  appearances  were  very  wonderful  and 
mysterious.     And  how  successfully  did  all  His 


268    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

studied  inaccessibility,  His  mysterious  reserve, 
His  unwonted  loftiness  of  bearing  throughout 
the  last  forty  days  of  earthly  sojourn,  train 
their  minds  at  once  to  elevated  views  and 
transcendently  devout  expressions  of  love, 
may  be  gathered  from  the  exclamation  in 
which  the  ardent  affection  of  Thomas  finds 
vent  for  his  holier  and  deeper  tone,  '  My  Lord 
and  my  God  I ' 

All  experience  confirms  the  impression  that 
if  we  abstract  from  the  Divine  plenitude  of 
the  Saviour,  we  diminish  the  power  of  love  to 
Christ  as  a  spiritual  influence.  And  in  pro- 
portion to  His  felt  elevation  above  us  will 
be  the  depth  of  our  love  to  Him  in  our  hearts. 
If  we  hold  any  object  over  the  glassy  surface 
of  water,  the  nearer  to  the  surface  it  is  held 
the  shallower  will  be  the  reflection ;  and  in 
proportion  to  our  raising  it  up  toward  heaven 
will  its  image  be  cast  down  into  the  calm 
depths  below.  To  the  highest  conceivable 
pitch  of  glory  and  power  does  Scripture  labour 
to  elevate  the  Saviour  in  our  view,  that  we 
may  give  back  an  answer  out  of  the  deep 
places  of  our  hearts.  His  seat  must  be  in 
the  centre  of  our  being ;  our  love  to  Him 
must  be  a  dominant  religious  principle  which 
views  Him  as  without  a  rival,  which  not  only 


THE   GAIN   TO   LOVE  269 

does  not  interfere  with  love  to  the  Divine 
Father,  but  is  the  very  expression  of  that 
love  which  must  be  supreme,  just  as  tokens 
of  love  either  to  a  father  or  a  mother  in  their 
respective  places  alike  honour  in  both  cases 
that  duty  of  reverence  which  the  parental  tie 
demands.  What  an  impetus  in  the  direction 
of  *  honouring  the  Son  even  as  we  honour 
the  Father '  has  been  given  to  our  religious 
love  by  the  invisibleness  of  the  Lord  I  How 
it  facilitates  the  Spirit  and  strengthens  the 
ground  of  dutiful  submission  to  Him  !  The 
French  veteran,  lying  mortally  wounded  on 
the  battlefield,  cried  to  the  surgeon  as  he  was 
probing  for  the  fatal  bullet  in  the  region  of 
the  heart,  *  A  little  deeper,  and  you  will  find 
the  emperor.'  So,  deeper  than  love  of  home, 
deeper  than  love  of  country,  deeper  than  love 
of  kindred,  deeper  than  love  of  life,  must  be 
our  love  to  our  Saviour — not  a  mere  fanciful, 
evanescent  emotion,  but  a  calm,  undecaying, 
and  all-pervasive  principle.  The  love  for 
Jesus  consecrates,  exalts,  and  brings  into  a 
glowing  focus  all  other  affections.  It  is  the 
central  power,  the  controlling  principle,  the 
regulating  force,  and  proportioning  spirit  of 
them  all  operating  perpetually,  unreservedly, 
supremely. 


270    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

(iv)  Christ's  invisibleness  has  a  manifest 
tendency  to  secure  a  love  for  Him  that  will 
p?^ove  not  only  paramoujit  in  its  sway,  but 
of  highest  practical  efficiency.  There  is  an 
element  in  Nature  which,  according  to  a 
modern  authority,  is  the  univ^ersal  agent  of 
colour  and  beauty  over  its  fair  face ;  and, 
singularly  enough,  the  same  metal  —  iron  — 
subdues  the  earth  to  our  service,  and  paints 
it  for  our  delectation.  But  for  the  presence 
of  this  oxide  of  iron,  the  soil  would  all  wear 
a  dull  dingy  hue,  unrelieved  by  the  rich  warm 
tints  we  see  in  the  darkling  furrow  or  the 
golden  sands. 

But  for  this  single  element,  curiously  pro- 
portioned and  applied,  we  should  alike  be 
robbed  of  the  glowing  purple  of  the  hills  and 
the  exquisite  hues  of  varied  tint  in  our  jaspers, 
pebbles,  and  other  precious  stones.  And 
what  is  more  to  our  purpose,  the  crimson  of 
the  blood,  the  noblest  colour  of  Nature,  is 
mysteriously  connected  with  the  same  won- 
drous element  —  a  crimson  which  is  linked 
with  the  vitality  of  our  being,  while  the 
vitality  itself  is  so  linked  with  this  same  iron 
mingling  in  our  veins  that  without  its  help 
neither  the  ruddy  glow  of  health  /lor  the 
blush  of  sensitive  modesty  would  mantle  on 


THE   GAIN   TO   LOVE  271 

the  face.  And  so  by  this  evangeHcal  rehgious 
principle  of  love  to  Christ  not  only  is  our 
life  subdued  to  His  service,  but  its  earthly 
aspect  is  to  be  glorified  by  the  co-mingling 
hues  of  heaven.  This  adoring  and  religiously 
evangelic  love  is  the  vital  fluid  of  Christian 
life  that  suffuses  the  spiritual  man  with  the 
radiance  of  heaven's  own  health  and  beauty. 
And  how  can  it  fill  such  a  place,  and  discharge 
such  a  function,  unless  it  acknowledge  Christ's 
sovereign  right  and  bow  before  His  incom- 
parably exalted  claims,  whether  He  require 
dutiful  obedience  to  His  will  in  commanding 
or  meek  submission  to  the  same  will  in  in- 
flicting and  chastising  ?  This  homage  we  must 
learn  to  pay  to  Him  without  the  indignity  of 
questioning  to  His  face  His  requirements,  or 
arguing  with  Him  on  the  propriety  of  His 
appointments,  as  those  in  His  own  imme- 
diate and  bodily  presence  were  tempted  not 
infrequently  to  do. 

Now,  Christ's  invisibleness  has  a  manifest 
tendency  to  afford  facilities  for  our  love  to 
Him  attaining  the  richest  possible  culture  and 
achieving  the  highest  practical  results,  thereby 
becoming  more  worthy  of  Him  Who  is  its 
glorious  object.  That  love  to  the  Saviour 
must  be  of  the  greatest  service  for  God  and 


272    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

man,  from  whatever  side  we  view  it,  is  evident 
enough  just  because  it  is  an  evangehcal  and 
rehgious  principle  of  attachment — just  because 
the  Lord  Jesus  Himself  is  its  real  object. 
He  reflects  His  own  worth  upon  it,  and 
inoculates  it  with  His  own  glory  and  power. 
It  borrows  His  lustre,  and  therefore  shines 
with  unmatched  splendour.  But  while  it  thus 
acquires  much  from  the  very  fact  of  the 
Saviour  being  its  object,  it  admits  of  gradations 
of  value,  viewed  as  a  practicable  tribute  of 
homage  to  His  name.  It  is  susceptible  of 
culture  by  the  ordinary  process  of  submission 
to  testing  and  discipline.  And  what  if  Christ's 
very  invisibleness  be  one  of  the  simplest  and 
fittest  methods  of  trial  and  training  ?  This 
idea  of  enhanced  value  acquired  through  the 
application  of  the  finest  ordeals  is  a  funda- 
mental one  in  the  present  passage.  The 
Apostle  speaks  of  our  being  placed  in  the 
midst  of  varied  forms  of  trial,  in  order  that 
our  faith  and  love  may  approve  themselves 
genuine,  and  may  result  in  praise,  honour, 
and  glory  at  the  open  appearing  of  Jesus 
Christ.  This  is  the  broad  principle  on  which 
the  whole  passage  is  based,  indicating  the 
need  of  our  love  undergoing  this  testing 
operation,    and     suggesting    His     temporary 


THE   GAIN   TO   LOVE  273 

though  complete  invisibleness  as  the  readiest 
and  most  suitable  expedient.  Our  love  to  the 
Redeemer  becomes,  in  comparison  with  love 
to  any  other  object,  like  golden  ore ;  but  if 
it  is  to  be  refined  gold,  it  must  be  subjected 
to  a  fiery  action  ;  if  it  is  to  be  wrought 
gold,  it  must  first  be  beaten.  And  what  fire 
and  hammering  are  to  gold  is  the  temporary 
invisibleness  of  the  Saviour  to  our  love,  being 
both  a  fit  training  and  a  fit  test. 

(a)  A  fit  training.  And  how  is  it  so  ? 
How  does  the  invisibleness  of  the  Lord  tend 
to  discipline  and  develop  our  love  ?  Is  it 
not  rather  a  privation — a  real  loss  ?  Yes  ;  but 
many  a  privation  is  the  most  direct  way  to 
a  gain,  and  every  loss  is  not  permanent 
detriment.  Temporary  and  judicious  depriva- 
tion of  the  blessing  of  sleep  may,  for  example, 
be  a  means  of  achieving  a  vaster  scholarship 
or  a  wider  and  more  remunerative  business. 
No  doubt  it  may  be  easier  for  us  to  fasten 
our  love  on  one  whom  we  have  seen  or  may 
see  at  pleasure.  We  are  more  readily  affected 
by  objects  which  are  visible  and  tangible.  So 
much  indeed  is  this  the  case  that  we  find  the 
truth  embodied  in  the  common  proverb,  '  Out 
of  sight,  out  of  mind.'  But  for  any  one  to 
be  in  sight  by  no  means  implies  a  willingness 

18 


274    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

to  have  him  in  mind  ;  and  the  appearance 
before  us  of  any  unloved  one  simply  evokes 
a  more  forcible  antipathy.  Moreover,  it  is 
not  sight,  but  conviction  and  reflection,  that 
can  give  depth  and  permanence  of  impression  ; 
for  love  dependent  in  any  degree  on  visual 
perception  is  both  very  common  and  very 
commonplace.  We  need  only  here  advert 
again  to  the  fact  that  love  never  displayed 
the  stamina  of  a  richly  constituted  spiritual 
pov^er  in  the  disciples  till  after  the  Lord's 
removal.  It  seemed  a  poor,  dwarfed,  stunted, 
if  not  a  capricious  and  bewildered  attachment. 
And,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  was  only  after 
the  Lord's  departure  that  love  began  to 
conquer  the  world  for  Christ ;  His  invisible- 
ness  seems  a  fitting  and  natural  instrument 
for  quickening  love  into  a  dauntless  heroism, 
a  self-sacrificing  devotion,  an  irresistible  energy. 
Self  was  forgotten  and  absorbed  in  the  tran- 
scendent claims  and  glory  of  Him  Whom  they 
supremely  loved,  and  Whose  ascension  was  the 
fit  crown  of  His  supreme  majesty  and  para- 
mount lordship.  Previously  love  was  too 
much  that  of  a  quiescent  and  easy  enjoyment 
— a  complacent,  comfortable  contemplation. 
Privation  aroused  it.  Christ's  external  re- 
moval opened  a  doorway  for  tlie  effusion  of 


THE   GAIN   TO   LOVE  275 

spiritual  increase,  and  its  natural  and  fitting 
concomitant  was  an  augmented  largeness  of 
grace  ;  His  departure  was  the  fit  signal  for 
the  richest  dowry  of  the  Spirit.  What,  then, 
is  the  right  place  of  vision  in  the  present 
economy  of  education  ?  As  we  have  already 
shown,  we  do  not  need  it  for  generating  love 
to  Christ,  for  we  do  love  those  whom  we 
have  never  seen — those  'dead  but  sceptred 
sovereigns  that  still  rule  our  spirits  from  their 
urns.'  Nor  do  we  need  it  in  order  to  demon- 
strate and  make  manifest  our  love  for  Him. 
Where,  then,  does  this  privilege  of  seeing  the 
Lord  most  profitably  come  in  ?  Surely  as  a 
reward  to  love.  For  what  higher  attainment 
can  there  be  than  to  see  Him  as  He  really  is  ? 
Is  not  this  one  of  the  most  exquisite  ideas 
of  heaven  ? 

Christ  to  love_,  as  One  we  know. 
Constitutes  the  joy  below ; 
Christ  to  see,  as  One  we  love, 
Constitutes  the  bliss  above. 

This  is  '  tfie  prize  of  our  high  calling.'  But 
would  it  be  a  prize,  would  it  be  unspeakable 
joy,  unless  to  hearts  already  loving  Him  ? 
Could  we  say  of  a  vision  of  Christ,  '  Thy  joys 
are  too  great  to  enter  into  me,'  unless  our 
hearts  could  cry,  '  Oh,  make  me  fit  to  enter 


276    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

into  them '  ?  How  suitable  the  vision  of 
*  Christ  as  He  is '  to  be  a  reward  for  love, 
whose  very  essence  is  to  crave  the  presence 
and  intimacy  of  its  object !  Self  is  forgotten 
in  the  presence  of  Him  we  love.  This  is  the 
glory  of  the  beatific  vision  in  heaven,  '  where 
love  is  an  unerring  light,  and  joy  its  own 
security.'  And  we  can  easily  realize  what  a 
prodigiously  effective  influence  was  exercised 
upon  love  by  such  a  hope  and  expectation. 
How  it  prevents  love  from  settling  into 
slothful  contemplation,  and  makes  it  an  active 
and  industrious  energy !  The  very  fact  of 
a  beloved  object  being  out  of  sight  awakens  a 
restless  movement  in  its  own  direction,  de- 
velops an  affinity  with  its  object  in  the  loving 
mind,  and  evokes  Avarmest  interest  and  enter- 
prise in  all  that  makes  for  that  object's  honour 
and  glory  and  satisfaction. 

(b)  This  invisibleness  is  admirably  fitted 
therefore  to  be  a  delicate  and  effective  test 
of  our  love  to  Christ.  Tried  love  is  true  love — 
and  what  more  simple  form  of  trial  than  the 
absence  of  its  object  ?  For  if  our  love  of  truth, 
for  example,  is  to  be  appraised  and  proved, 
truth  must  not  be  presented  with  an  all-evident 
conspicuousness  which  could  not  possibly  be 
missed  ;  and  if  love  to  Christ  is  to  be  tested, 


THE   GAIN   TO   LOVE  277 

He  should  not  be  forced  in  person  on  the  view. 
The  appearance  of  Christ  would  signalize  the 
conclusion  of  the  testing  process.  And  as,  on 
the  one  hand,  the  Lord  needs  not  to  be  bodily 
present  in  winning  the  love  of  our  hearts,  so 
neither  need  He,  on  the  other  hand,  withdraw 
the  veil  which  hides  Him  from  our  sight  in 
order  to  afford  us  an  opportunity  of  proving 
our  personal  love  to  Him.  For  though  He 
is  no  longer  a  poor,  pain-stricken,  hungry,  and 
thirsty  tenant  of  earth,  no  longer  an  object  of 
pity  or  alms-giving,  no  longer  a  pilgrim  or 
stranger  on  life's  dusty  highway,  dependent 
on  the  quiet  attention  or  friendly  offices  of 
such  as  the  Bethany  family,  who  frequently 
ministered  in  their  grateful,  unassuming  way 
to  His  necessities — are  we  therefore  precluded 
from  evincing  as  directly  and  forcibly  that  we 
do  love  Him  ?  We  may  well  be  content  with 
our  Lord's  own  decision,  '  He  that  hath  My 
commandments  and  keepeth  them,  he  it  is 
that  loveth  JNIe.'  When  the  woman  with  the 
alabaster  box  of  precious  ointment  poured  its 
rich  contents  on  Him  as  He  sat  at  meat.  His 
person  was  honoured  hoth  formally  and  really — 
but,  alas  I  these  two  things  are  separable.  He 
may  be  formally,  very  formally,  the  object  of 
loving  attention  without  being  really  so — as 


278    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

when  He  was  received  and  entertained  at  meat 
in  the  Pharisee's  house  ;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  He  Himself  may  be  really  loved,  though 
His  person  formally  may  not  be  reached.  If 
it  had  happened  that  our  Lord  had  thought  fit 
to  stay  the  woman's  hand  from  anointing  His 
own  head,  and  had  given  some  other  command 
for  the  disposal  of  the  cruet's  contents,  would 
not  her  love  have  been  as  really  love  to  Him, 
if  in  submissive  obedience  to  His  wish  she 
had  checked  her  own  impulse,  and  been 
guided  tby  His  desire — though  she  had  not 
been  permitted  to  anoint  His  sacred  body 
as  for  the  burial  ? 

Though  therefore  we  may  not,  like  Zacchseus, 
run  before  Him  and  receive  Him  in  His 
exhaustion  with  joy  to  our  dwelling,  are  we 
not  virtually  debarring  Him  an  entrance  to 
our  home  if  we  open  not  the  doorway  of  our 
hearts,  that  the  King  of  Glory  may  come  in — 
if  we  welcome  not  His  whole  cause  and 
interests  into  the  warmest  corner  of  our 
affections  ?  We  may  not  bathe  His  toil-worn 
feet  with  soothing  and  refreshing  tears,  but 
we  are  none  the  less  able  to  prove  our  love 
for  Him,  in  His  own  estimation,  when  *  we 
do  whatsoever  He  commands  us.'  We  may 
not,  like  the  woman  of  Sychar,  hear  Him  say, 


THE   GAIN   TO   LOVE  279 

*  Give  Me  to  drink,'  and  let  down  our  pitcher 
into  the  deep  well  of  Jacob,  and  draw  of  the 
cooling  water  wherewith  He  may  moisten  His 
parched  throat,  but  our  evangelical,  religious, 
worshipping,  and  cultured  love  will  find  its 
object  in  Himself  of  a  truth,  whensoever  and 
in  as  far  soever  as  His  cross  is  our  glory.  His 
service  our  delight,  His  salvation  our  joy,  His 
will  our  rule.  His  example  our  pattern,  His 
presence  (felt,  though  unseen)  our  confidence, 
His  grace  our  strength.  His  promise  our  solace. 
His  word  our  nutriment,  His  cause  our  watch- 
word. His  approval  our  ambition,  His  honour 
our  goal,  His  loved  ones  our  loved  ones,  His 
friends  our  friends.  His  interests  our  interests, 
His  cause  our  cause,  and  His  will  our  will. 
How  searching  the  test !  What  a  safeguard 
against  self-deceiving  formality !  It  necessitates 
love  avouching  its  genuineness  as  a  vital 
operative  principle — a  love  which  '  many 
waters  cannot  quench  nor  floods  drown,'  ever 
scooping  out  new  channels  in  which  it  may 
freshly  flow,  living  its  daily  life  and  going  its 
daily  rounds  ;  in  short,  doing  all  things  '  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord  Jesus ' — here  bearing  un- 
murmuringly  the  needful  cross,  and  there 
giving  as  to  Christ  the  cup  of  cold  water  for 
simple  discipleship's  sake,  everywhere  adorning 


280    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

the  labours  which  it  animates ;  here  com- 
mending Christ  to  some,  and  there  rejoicing 
greatly  at  His  being  regarded  by  others  with 
those  sentiments  which  befit  His  person, 
character,  and  claims  ;  one  while  putting 
eloquence  for  Christ  into  the  stammering 
tongue,  and  again  leading  a  martyr  to  cry, 
'  I  cannot  argue  for  Him,  but  I  can  die  for 
Him  ' ;  one  while  brimming  over  with  watch- 
fulness, lest  the  Master  be  by  us  ignobly 
dishonoured,  and  anon  with  self-sacrificing 
devotion  resolving  *  to  fill  up  that  which  is 
behind  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ  for  His 
body's  sake,  the  Church,'  that  in  all  things 
He  may  have  the  pre-eminence.  For  *  if  any 
man  love  not  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  he  is 
Anathema  Maranatha.'  The  Lord  cometh. 
The  Lord,  though  unseen,  must  be  to  us  ever 
*  at  hand  ' ;  and  is  now  become  by  every  title 
the  sovereign  of  the  heart. 


CHAPTER   IV 
THE    GAIN   TO   JOY 


Rejoice  in  the  Lord  alway  :  again  I  say^  rejoice. — St.  Paul. 

Serene  will  be  our  days,  and  bright 

And  happy  will  our  nature  be_, 
When  love  is  an  unerring  light. 

And  joy  its  own  security. 

WORDBWOBTH. 

Thy  joys  are  too  great  to  enter  into  me. 
Oh,  make  me  fit  to  enter  into  them. 

St.  Augustine. 

In  Whom,  though  now  ye  see  Him  not,  yet  believing,  ye  rejoice 
with  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory  :  receiving  the  end  of  your 
faith,  even  the  salvation  of  your  souls. — 1  Peter  i.  8. 


CHAPTER    IV 
THE   GAIN    TO    JOY 

There  is  such  a  reality,  such  an  unquestion- 
able phenomenon  of  human  experience,  as 
spiritual  joy,  just  as  certain  as  there  is 
physical,  animal,  intellectual,  gesthetical,  social, 
or  any  other  joy.  This  religious  joy  is  a  joy 
that  springs  from  spiritual  sources  and  con- 
siderations, and  is  the  expression  of  religious 
or  spiritual  experiences. 

Speaking  generally,  joy  is  that  emotion  of 
delight  which  springs  up  in  the  mind  when 
it  finds  itself  possessed  or  sure  of  possessing 
what  it  thinks  a  good  worth  having.  It  is 
the  feeling  of  having  got,  or  the  certain  pros- 
pect of  getting,  what  we  love  or  like.  It  is 
an  appanage  or  dependency  of  love,  in  the 
form  of  gratified  desire,  when  love  is  resting 
in  or  has  already  attained  its  object. 

So  much  is  said  of  this  joy,  and  it  occupies 
so  large  and  important  a  place  in  Scripture, 

283 


284    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

especially  in  its  connection  with  an  invisible 
Saviour,  that  it  seems  to  demand  some  words 
of  separate  consideration.  What  large  room 
is  given  to  it  in  Psalm  and  Proverb,  in  Narra- 
tive and  Prophecy,  in  Gospel  and  Epistle,  in 
different  texts  that  run  through  whole  columns 
of  an  ordinary  concordance  ! 

How  frequently  joy  is  commanded  and 
enjoined  on  us,  as  an  indispensable  requisite 
in  all  true  and  real  religion !  And  what  an 
essential  element  it  is  made  in  the  religion 
of  Jesus  Christ !  '  Rejoice  in  the  Lord,  ye 
righteous.'  *  Joy  in  God,  and  be  glad  in  the 
God  of  your  salvation.'  *  Let  all  them  that 
seek  Thee  rejoice  in  Thee.'  *  Rejoice  in  the 
Lord  alway:  again  I  say,  rejoice.'  Not  to 
have  this  joy  is  both  a  misfortune  and  a 
fault.  How  often  it  is  the  subject  of  resolu- 
tion and  of  prayer  and  of  thankfulness !  '  I 
will  greatly  rejoice  in  God.'  '  My  spirit  hath 
rejoiced  in  God  my  Saviour.'  '  Then  will  I 
go  to  God,  to  God  my  exceeding  joy'  *  I 
will  rejoice  in  the  Lord,  and  my  soul  shall 
be  joyful  in  my  God.'  'We  will  rejoice  in 
Thy  salvation.'  '  Restore  unto  me  the  joy 
of  Thy  salvation.'  '  The  God  of  all  hope 
fill  you  with  all  joy  .  .  .  in  believing.'  And 
not   less    fi'equent    are    the    expressions    and 


THE   GAIN    TO   JOY  285 

declarations  of  this  spiritual  joy  as  a  true 
and  habitual  Christian  experience.  '  These 
things  write  we  unto  you,  that  your  joy 
may  be  full.'  '  For  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit 
is  .  .  .  joy  .  .  .  the  joy  of  the  Holy  Ghost.' 
'  Thus  for  the  joy  that  was  set  before  Him, 
Christ  endured  the  cross.'  *  These  things 
have  I  said  unto  you,  that  My  joy  may 
remain  in  you,  and  that  your  joy  may  be 
full.'  '  As  sorrowing,  yet  always  rejoicing,  ye 
rejoice  amid  tribulation :  the  joy  of  the  Lord 
is  your  strength.' 

But  what  specially  concerns  us  at  present 
is  the  connection  of  this  joy  with  a  Sa\dour 
we  have  not  seen,  and  the  gain  and  advan- 
tage to  it  from  His  very  invisibleness.  '  Jesus 
Christ,  Whom  having  not  seen,  ye  love ;  in 
Whom,  though  now  ye  see  Him  not,  yet 
believing,  ye  rejoice  ivith  joy  unspeakable  and 
full  of  glory,  receiving  the  end  of  your  faith, 
even  the  salvation  of  your  souls.' 

Here  we  find  it  hinted  that  Christ's  in- 
visibleness is  a  gain  and  advantage  to  spiritual 
joy  in  helping  to  insure : 

(i)  The  right  object  and  order  of  joy.  '  In 
Whom,  though  now  seeing  Him  not,  ye  rejoice.' 

(ii)  The  right  "dcay  of  rejoicing.  This  joy 
is  here  connected  with  the  exercisings  of  faith, 


286    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

love,  and  hope  in  Christ  unseen.  *  In  Whom 
belieiing,  ye  rejoice.'  *  Whom  not  having 
seen,  ye  love,  rejoicing  with  joy  unspeakable.' 
And  finally,  it  is  the  joy  of  hope— full  of 
glory — the  end  of  your  faith. 

(iii)  The  right  consummation,  or  goal,  of 
joy,  *  Ye  rejoice,  receiving  the  end  of  your 
faith.'  This,  then,  is  a  joy  of  faith,  hope, 
and  love  in  God  our  Saviour — a  kind  of  joy 
the  world  can  neither  give  nor  take  away. 

(i)  Christ's  invisibleness  a  gain  in  guiding 
us  to  the  right  object  of  joy.  There  is  some- 
thing very  irreligious  in  any  one  to  whom 
religion  is  a  gloom,  or  who  has  so  far  mis- 
taken the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  as  to 
associate  it  with  dismal,  or  woful,  or  melan- 
cholic experiences.  As  well  think  that  shadows 
come  from  the  sunlight,  as  that  gloom  is  a 
natural  product  of  vital  piety.  That  may  be 
the  dark  portal  into  religion  ;  but  the  religion 
itself  it  is  not  and  cannot  be.  Surely  they 
are  to  be  pitied  who  do  not  find  in  Jesus 
Christ  a  spring  and  source  of  joy— of  unfailing, 
albeit  sober,  and  sacred,  and  holy  delight. 

They  are  much  to  be  commiserated  who 
have  no  other  joy  but  what  is  derived  from 
being  amused  or  diverted — a  legitimate 
enough    source   of   joy   after   its   own   order, 


THE   GAIN   TO   JOY  287 

but  fit  neither  to  be  the  supreme  source  and 
stay  of  our  joy,  nor  belonging  to  the  highest 
order  of  joy  in  itself  This  low-toned  and 
transient  thing  will  never  attain  the  dis- 
tinction of  being   able  *  to  fill   you   with   all 

joy.' 

No  doubt  every  sense,  every  appetite, 
desire,  or  faculty  has  an  inherent  capability 
of  joy  of  its  own,  which  is  felt  and  realized 
whenever,  and  in  so  far  as,  these  find  their 
fitting  objects.  But  what  creates  mere 
passing  merriment  is  one  of  the  smallest, 
shallowest,  and  least  satisfactory  sources  of 
joy.  It  is  a  pleasant  kind  of  joy  for  the 
moment,  like  the  crackling  of  thorns  under 
a  pot — very  bright  and  genial  for  the  brief 
space  it  lasts,  but  too  speedily  followed  with 
the  ashes  into  which  it  so  very  soon  resolves 
itself.  The  action  of  over-indulged  joys,  with 
all  their  thrills,  is  but  too  short  and  fitful  to 
satisfy,  with  but  too  inevitable  reaction. 
*  Such  glorious  beauty  is  as  the  fading  flower 
on  the  head  of  the  fat  valleys  of  them  that 
are  overcome  with  wine.'  In  their  most 
legitimate  forms  they  are  alike  defective  and 
transient,  and  at  their  worst  they  become 
injurious  and  nauseous,  if  not  even  degrading. 
They  belong,  like   forced   and  unnatural  ex- 


288    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

periences,  to  the  seen  or  temporal,  and  so 
partake  at  once  of  its  inherent  insufficiency 
and  un satisfy ingness. 

The  highest  joy  must  always  be  commen- 
surate with  our  highest  powders  of  enjoyment ; 
and  the  enjoyableness  of  joy  will  depend  on 
its  adaptation  to  our  nature  in  its  more 
abiding  needs  and  relations,  and  no  arbitrary 
appointment  can  ever  dissociate  highest  joy 
from  highest  goodness.  The  highest  joy 
cannot  be  vouchsafed  to  those  who  are  not 
capable  of  being  good,  and  it  will  be  vouch- 
safed in  quantity  and  quality  according  as 
good  is  attained  or  exercised.  Joy  in  good- 
ness for  the  sake  of  goodness  is  joy  indeed. 

If  we  joy  in  God  through  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  we  are  learning  to  *  enjoy  God  in 
all  things,  and  to  enjoy  all  things  in  God.' 
For  by  Him  as  our  supreme  prophet  we  are 
taught  all  the  things  of  God  which  make 
us  glad.  Endless  and  exhaustless  sources  of 
joy  are  opened  to  us  in  the  knowledge  of 
God's  love,  which  we  have  good  occasion  to 
delight  in  and  welcome.  For  in  proportion 
as  we  appreciate  and  yield  to  the  influences 
of  this  saving  and  satisfying  knowledge  of 
God,  imparted  to  the  humble  and  receptive 
soul,  we  are  enabled  to  render  obedience  to 


THE   GAIN   TO   JOY  289 

the  exhilarating  command,  *  Be  giad  in  God, 
all  ye  righteous,  and  rejoice  in  Him,  ye  that 
are  upright  in  your  hearts ' ;  and  so  we  take 
up  the  no  less  exhilarating  resolve,  *  I  will 
rejoice  in  God,  and  my  spirit  shall  be  glad 
in  the  God  of  my  salvation.'  So  we  are 
permitted  and  enjoined  to  'sing  unto  the 
Lord,  and  come  before  His  presence  with 
joyfulness.'  '  He  hath  done  great  things  for 
us,  whereof  we  are  glad.'  '  For  the  Lord  is 
my  strength  and  song,  for  He  is  become  my 
salvation.'  We  sing  for  joy  not  only  to  the 
Lord,  but  we  sing  of  Him  as  the  Lord  God 
of  our  redemption.  This  is  what  kindles  all 
religious  songs  of  thanks.  It  is  the  inspiration 
of  the  joyful  notes  of  all  psalms,  and  hymns, 
and  spiritual  songs  in  which  we  make  religious 
mirth  and  melody  in  our  hearts  to  our  God. 
'  Sing  unto  the  Lord,  ye  saints  of  His,  and 
give  thanks  at  the  remembrance  of  His 
holiness.'  In  this  way  we  are  kept  on  the 
right  lines  of  joy  so  as  to  move  in  the 
direction  of  its  highest  and  best  sources. 
So  we  rejoice  in  the  one  great  high-priest  of 
our  profession — our  all-prevailing  advocate 
and  intercessor  with  the  Father,  who  once 
gave  Himself  for  us,  a  sacrifice  unto  God 
of   a   sweet-smelling    savour,    and   who   now 

19 


290    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

gives  Himself  to  us  for  the  joy  and  rejoicing 
of  our  hearts.  We  rejoice  in  Jesus  Christ 
in  all  His  offices,  and  for  all  the  purposes 
for  which  He  is  granted  to  us  as  the  un- 
speakable gift  of  the  Father — the  pledge  and 
channel  as  it  is  of  all  other  needed  and 
promised  blessings. 

All  joy  of  this  kind  is  essentially  in- 
dependent of  and  superior  to  any  mere 
outward  or  temporary  sight  of  a  Saviour ; 
it  is  created  and  upheld  by  that  abiding  and 
perennially  constant  inner  and  blessed  vision 
of  the  exalted,  triumphant,  and  glorified 
Redeemer.  So  it  is  with  us  as  with  the 
first  disciples.  They  could  afford,  after  they 
had  witnessed  their  Master  s  departure  and 
final  disappearance — which  once  they  had 
so  dreaded — to  return  to  Jerusalem  with 
great  joy,  *and  were  continually  in  the 
temple,  blessing  and  praising  God.' 

(ii)  Christ's  invisibleness  a  gain  in  helping 
to  keep  us  on  the  light  road  to  joy.  An 
invisible  Saviour  does  shut  us  up  into  the 
one  and  only  right  way  of  spiritual  joy  in 
the  Lord — the  way  of  faith,  of  hope,  and  of 
love  toward  Himself.  The  joy  of  the  Christian 
life  and  experience  comes  from  the  primary 
objects  of  Christian  faith,  hope,  and  love,  and 


THE   GAIN   TO   JOY  291 

from  their  effects  on  dispositions,  purposes, 
sentiments,  conduct,  and  character.  And  they 
are  much  to  be  commiserated  who  have  no 
faith  rooted  and  grounded  in  God,  the  God 
and  Father  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ,  and  our  own  revealed  God  and  Father 
in  Him,  who  have  no  love  that  ascends  to 
Him,  and  no  hope  that  does  not  cHng  to  and 
hang  upon  Him. 

The  way  to  highest  joy  in  life  consists, 
therefore,  in  rightly  believing,  hoping,  and 
loving.  Faith  in  Christ  without  joy  were  an 
entire  anomaly — a  well  without  water,  an  altar 
without  incense,  a  summer  without  sunshine. 
Such  faith  may  exist,  indeed,  without  trans- 
ports of  gladness  ;  but  if  void  of  joy.  Christian 
faith  were  faith  no  longer.  It  is  faith  rightly 
founded  and  grounded  that  gives  the  soul 
possession  of  a  sense  of  proprietorship  in  all 
the  real  consolations  of  the  gospel  promises 
and  gospel  blessings. 

Hence  we  read  so  often  of  the  warm  and 
genial  atmosphere  of  joy  and  rejoicing  in 
which  the  early  disciples  lived  and  moved 
and  had  their  being.  A  vein  of  sacred 
enjoyment  pervaded  all  their  lives.  Of  course, 
joy  is  a  grace  and  blessing  that  can  never 
stand  alone,  or  be  experienced  by  itself.     Joy 


292    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

cannot  come  just  by  our  wishing  for  it.  There 
is  a  way  to  it,  and  we  must  walk  in  that  way. 
It  is  always  associated  with  and  represented 
as  the  attendant  on  and  the  fruit  of  other 
graces.  And  first  and  chiefly  of  faith,  for  it 
is  represented  as  the  result  of  appropriating 
the  truths,  the  promises,  the  proffers,  and  the 
other  blessings  of  Christ's  Word  and  Gospel. 
The  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  faith,  love,  and  joy. 
The  kingdom  of  God  is  righteousness,  peace, 
and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  With  joy  ye 
shall  draw  water  from  the  wells  of  salvation. 
*  Hitherto  have  ye  asked  nothing  in  My  name  ; 
ask,  and  receive,  that  your  joy  may  be  full.' 
Rejoice  evermore  ;  in  everything  give  thanks. 
So  in  the  same  alembic  we  must  convert 
everything  into  food  for  joy.  I^et  the  brother 
of  low  degree  rejoice  in  that  he  is  exalted, 
but  the  rich  man  in  that  he  is  made  low. 
Beloved,  count  it  all  joy  when  ye  fall  into 
divers  temptations,  or  ways  for  proving  you. 
Again,  what  a  joy  to  know  oneself  to  be 
loved,  and  to  be  loving  in  return  ;  for  '  when 
love  is  an  unerring  light,  joy  is  its  own 
security.'  What  a  joy  to  have  assurances  of 
the  Divine  love,  and  to  be  exercising  ourselves 
in  the  same  happy  grace  both  toward  God  and 
man  1     What   a  joy  is  the   sense   of    having 


THE   GAIN   TO   JOY  293 

bestowed  our  love  worthily  —  bestowed  it, 
moreover,  on  One  Who  will  not  suffer  it  to 
be  frustrated  or  disappointed  in  its  highest 
hopes  !  The  magnitude  of  the  sin  and  misery 
from  which  the  love  of  God  our  Saviour 
rescues  us  has  in  it  the  highest  cause  for 
permanent  joy,  and  it  breeds  and  prompts 
that  grateful  joy  which  grows  and  grows  with 
the  gratitude  that  first  awakened  it.  To  be 
assured  that  all  things  work  together  for  good 
to  them  that  love  God ;  to  know  that  while 
not  any  suffering  is  for  the  present  joyous, 
but  grievous,  yet  to  those  that  are  rightly 
exercised  thereby  it  worketh  all  manner  of 
peaceful  fruits  of  righteousness ;  that  the 
Lord  doth  not  afflict  willingly,  nor  grieve  the 
children  of  men ;  and  that  for  no  pleasure 
to  Him,  but  for  profit  to  us.  He  uses  both 
kindness  and  severity  in  training  us  and 
turning  us  from  all  the  evil  that  is  itself  the 
worst  misery  and  woe ;  to  know  God  as 
our  Father,  and  Christ  our  Saviour,  and  the 
Holy  Spirit  our  Tutor  and  Paraclete — these 
are  constant  fountains  of  joy  always  springing 
up  and  ever  flowing  —  yea,  and  often  over- 
flowing— so  that  *  to  rejoice  in  the  Lord 
always '  is  no  vain  nor  impossible  attainment, 
but    a    simple    form     of    loving     obedience. 


294    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

'  Wherein  ye  greatly  rejoice,  though  now  for 
a  season  if  need  be  ye  are  in  heaviness  through 
manifold  trials.' 

That  is  to  say,  whatever  it  may  be  on  the 
surface,  yet  underneath  and  deep  down  in 
the  Christianized  nature  there  is  a  current  of 
quiet  joy  that  is  separate  from,  yet  genially 
harmonizes  with,  the  upper  and  superficial 
tossings  and  turmoils  of  our  lot.  It  is  a 
light  and  heat  felt  and  known  when  all  God's 
waves  and  billows  are  passing  over  us,  like 
that  kind  of  fire  that  burns  brightest  under 
water,  like  that  sure  working  of  life  under 
the  cold  and  frozen  snow  which  is  evidenced 
by  the  blooming  wild-flowers  far  up  the 
snow-clad  Alpine  heights,  though  all  unseen. 

(iii)  Christ's  invisibleness  a  gain  toward  the 
right  consummation^  purpose,  or  goal  of  joy. 
Ye  receive  .the  accomplishment  of  your  faith. 
Keeping  the  inward  eye  more  or  less  fixed  on 
the  Saviour,  Who  is  Himself  our  hope  and 
Whom  we  shall  yet  see  for  ourselves,  we  are 
better  able  to  *  rejoice  in  the  glorious  hope' 
of  the  full  consummation  of  all  we  desire  and 
all  we  expect  to  attain.  Amid  the  corruptions, 
heart-breaks,  disappointments,  and  embitter- 
ments  of  this  present  life,  we  have  an  antidote 
to  such  woes  in  the  joyous  assurance  of  an 


THE   GAIN   TO   JOY  295 

inheritance  incorruptible,  undefiled,  and  that 
fadeth  not  away,  which  is  in  reserve  for  us 
when  we  are  ready  for  it,  and  to  which  we  are 
being  kept  by  the  power  of  God  through  faith. 
This  is  the  final  reach  and  consummate  flower 
and  fruitage  of  the  salvation  here  referred  to, 
that  is  awaiting  a  full  revelation  and  unveiling 
when  we  are  in  a  state  to  appreciate  it  and 
enter  upon  it. 

This  joy  is  said  to  be  unspeakable  and  full 
of  glory.  Unspeakable,  or  indescribable  ;  too 
great  to  be  put  into  words  or  expressed  fittingly 
in  any  language  of  earth — an  experience  too 
deep  for  our  powers  of  utterance  and  too  high 
to  be  brought  down  to  the  level  of  speech. 
For  it  is  full  of  glory  :  like  the  matchless  light 
and  glow  of  the  hill-tops  when  bathed  in  the 
roseate  hues  of  early  dawn,  before  the  actual 
sun  itself  is  seen  above  the  horizon,  but  which 
is  the  sure  prelude  of  the  approaching  day  and 
the  unmistakable  evidence  of  a  fuller  sunshine 
yet  to  disclose  itself.  For  grace  in  the  soul  is 
but  the  dawn  of  glory,  and  highest  glory  is 
but  greatest  grace's  risen  day.  People  talk  of 
the  future  life  as  another  life ;  but  it  is  the 
same  life,  the  very  same  life,  here  and  hereafter 
— in  different  stages  and  degrees,  just  as  the 
light  of  dawn  and  the  light  of  noonday  is  the 


296    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

very   same   light   in   different    measures    and 
amounts. 

There  is  an  actual  joy  of  salvation  now  and 
here  ;  but  it  includes  the  anticipated  joy  of 
the  same  salvation  in  its  perfected  and  com- 
pleted stage,  which  has  in  it  something  quite 
unspeakable  and  full  of  glory. 

For  there  are  heights  and  depths  and  reaches 
of  spiritual  experience  attained  at  times  by 
some  choice  spirits  even  here  and  now  that 
contain  within  themselves  assurances  of  un- 
folding and  unfading  glories  that  dwarf  all 
that  '  eye  hath  seen,  or  ear  heard,  or  that  hath 
ever  entered  into  our  hearts  to  conceive,'  and 
yet  the  very  cravings  and  aspirations  thus 
evoked  give  birth  to  joyous  efforts  after 
anticipations  of  a  glorious  liberty  of  God's 
children  which  is  yet  to  be  unveiled. 

Such  a  glad  and  joyous  impulse  refuses  to 
be  cribbed,  cabined,  and  confined  within  the 
bounds  of  present  experiences  or  attainments. 
The  placid  stolidity  of  the  lower  creatures, 
with  their  unruffled  and  unreflecting  content 
in  present  environment,  may  find  repose  in 
stationary  existence.  But  a  joy  in  present 
attainment  insists  on  being  supplemented  in 
human  nature  when  conscious  of  comparative 
imperfection,  and  yet  haunted  by  a  vision  and 


THE    GAIN   TO   JOY  297 

ideal  of  glory  that  should  follow,  with  an 
advancing  joy  in  accordance  with  its  higher 
cravings  and  impulses. 

The  present  life  is  not  by  any  means,  as 
some  ignorantly  fancy,  the  only  life  we  know. 
For  as  long  as  there  is  a  sense  and  a  yearn- 
ing after  more  ideal  attainment,  there  is  a 
gladdening  and  joyful  assurance  of  such  a 
state  being  attainable  both  here  and  hereafter. 
This  is  the  joyous  and  strenuous  life  that 
nerves  the  soul  for  higher  issues,  and  so 
anticipates  a  life  more  joyous  still. 

And  what  though  this  further  goal  be  not 
seen  as  yet,  must  we  entertain  no  gladsome 
expectations  or  make  no  joyful  progress,  nor 
aspire  after  better  things,  till  we,  in  fact,  have 
seen  them  ?  What  is  the  spring  and  motive 
of  all  progress  and  advance,  even  in  the 
comforts  and  amenities  and  dignity  and  worth 
of  our  natural  life,  if  not  the  sense  of  want 
and  shortcoming  as  to  things  we  have  never 
as  yet  seen  ?  But  we  press  forward  and  strain 
our  best  to  have  these  things  more  clearly  felt 
and  grasped.  The  life  of  our  barbarous 
ancestors  is  not  our  life ;  and  the  life  of 
coming  generations  will  be  different  again 
from  ours.  And  the  very  prophets  that  hang 
all   their  joyous   hopes   and   anticipations   on 


298    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

mere  material  advance  are  the  foremost  in 
portraying  a  life  that  shall  throw  the  achieve- 
ments of  the  present  into  the  shade,  and 
make  our  posterity  think  the  conditions  of 
our  present  life,  on  which  we  set  such  store, 
but  the  crude  attempts  of  an  outgrown  and 
intolerable  barbarism.  With  such  prospects 
of  indefinite  advance,  who  of  mankind  may 
consistently  cast  a  shade  of  doubt  over  reaches 
of  joy  that  can  be  truly  described  as  unspeak- 
able and  full  of  glory  ? 

Every  one  who  lives  must  have  some  form 
of  joyful  anticipation,  to  make  life  at  all  worth 
living,  and  keep  it  from  sinking  down  into  its 
own  ashes.  To  rejoice  in  glorious  hope  is  the 
very  condition  of  any  human  life  that  is  worth 
calling  life.  And  the  joy  of  reaching  forth  to 
what  we  have  not  yet  attained,  but  which  we 
have  good  reason  to  think  attainable,  is  one 
of  the  sweetest  joys  known  to  our  human 
nature. 

And  what  is  true  of  all  life  is  emphatically 
true  of  the  life  of  the  spirit — there  is  a  joy  in 
its  very  exercise  and  in  the  forth-putting  of  all 
its  genial  activities,  whereby  *  all  other  joys 
grow  less  to  the  one  joy  of  doing  kindnesses.' 
Especially  is  this  so  when  it  is  conscious  of 
holding  within  itself  the  pledge  and  preparation 


THE    GAIN   TO   JOY  299 

for  something  higher  and  fuller.  In  no  kind 
of  life  is  this  more  realized,  and  of  no  order  of 
life  is  this  more  true,  than  a  life  that  has  perfect 
excellence  for  its  mark  and  goal.  Believing  in 
the  complete  salvation — a  perfect  state  of 
being  and  of  well-being,  a  fully  restored 
humanity  according  to  the  measure  of  the 
stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ — we  cannot  but 
rejoice  in  this  hope  of  glory.  A  life  of  growing 
conformity  to  that  high  ideal  of  an  all-perfect 
and  consummated  state  of  salvation  is  a  life 
that  has  at  its  root  and  centre  a  spring  of  vital 
and  vitalizing  joy.  No  doubt  that  is  a  spurious 
form  of  Christian  life  that  lives  only  for  joy. 
It  is  a  false,  because  a  selfish  and  self-seeking 
life,  that  makes  its  joy  the  first  and  chief  of  its 
aims.  The  true  goal  and  prize  of  the  high 
calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord  is  the 
excellency  of  our  resemblance  to  Him.  That 
is  the  animating  and  ever-present  motive — the 
end  and  object  of  our  faith  ;  but  joy  is  the 
inevitable  accompaniment  of  it — for  of  what 
use  is  spiritual  joy  but  to  be  the  harmonious 
reflex  action  and  the  inevitable  attendant 
upon  the  influential  operation  of  that  faith 
which  worketh  by  love,  calleth  hope  into 
play,  and  is  full  of  all  good  fruits  ?  This  joy 
is  in  no   league   with   the   selfishness   of  the 


300    CHRIST  INV^ISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

human  heart,  any  more  than  that  it  is  the 
baseless  fabric  of  a  visionary  and  unreahzable 
dream.  For  it  has  the  witness  within  itself; 
and  while  it  rejoices  in  glorious  hope  it  attains 
to  a  quiet  and  steadfast  assurance.  '  Thou 
wilt  show  me  the  path  of  life  ;  in  Thy  presence 
is  fulness  of  joy  ;  at  Thy  right  hand  there  are 
pleasures  for  evermore.' 


CHAPTER   V 

THE    GAIN    TO    SPIRITUALITY    IN 
RELIGION 


God  is  a  Spirit :  and  they  that  worship  Him  must  worship 
Him  in  spirit. — John  iv.  24. 

We  look  not  at  the  things  which  are  seen,  but  at  the  things 
which  are  not  seen. — 2  Cor.  iv.  18. 

The  lust  of  the  eyes  ...  is  not  of  the  Father. — 1  John  ii.  16 

He  endured,  as  seeing  Him  Who  is  invisible. — Heh.  xi.  27. 

Better  to  walk  with  the  Lord  in  the  dark. 

Than  to  walk  alone  in  the  light. 
Better  to  walk  in  the  dark  by  faith  ; 

Than  to  walk  alone  by  sight. 


CHAPTER    V 

THE    GAIN   TO    SPIRITUALITY    IN 
RELIGION 

Spirituaijty  is  of  the  essence  of  vital  religion. 
For  religion  is  nothing,  if  not  an  appeal  to 
the  invisible.  It  is  based  on  the  conviction 
of  invisible  spirit,  and  implies  spiritual  con- 
verse and  communion.  Whatever  else  it  is, 
religion  involves  a  conception  of  some  spiritual 
presence,  influence,  and  service.  Even  many 
an  untutored  pagan  associates  with  his  idol 
or  image  some  hidden  being  or  power  ;  and 
while  this  does  not  prevent  the  materializing 
of  religion,  it  raises  even  this  low  form  above 
mere  fetishism  or  materialism.  To  make  re- 
ligion hang  upon  the  invisible,  if  not  to  the 
exclusion,  yet  to  the  disparagement  compara- 
tively of  the  material  or  tangible,  helps  to 
raise  it  above  both  the  magical  and  the 
mechanical,  and  to  purge  it  from  the  many 
pagan  corruptions  to  which  it  is  otherwise  so 

303 


304    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

liable.  For  average  human  nature  is  prone 
to  sink  under  the  dominion  of  things  seen 
and  temporal,  and  to  cleave  to  them,  as  if 
they  were  the  only  or  at  least  the  most  surely 
ascertainable  realities.  And  this  is  altogether 
apart  from  any  consistent  or  intelligently 
conceived  materialistic  theory  or  system,  which 
is  ever  likely  to  be  confined  to  a  small  section 
of  hard-headed  and  frequently  hard-hearted 
people.^  But  there  is  a  practical  form  of 
materialism  which  is  very  congenial  to  human 
beings  of  a  low,  selfish,  irreligious  sort,  which 
concerns  itself  mainly,  sometimes  exclusively, 
with  *  what  shall  we  eat,  and  what  shall  we 
drink,  and  wherewithal  shall  we  be  clothed  ? ' 

Against  this  spirit  and  attitude  the  con- 
ception of  an  invisible  Saviour  is  not  merely 
a  standing  protest,  but  a  very  real  and  helpful 
gain.  It  presents  certain  tests  and  ideals  of 
thought  and  action  ;  and  by  applying  these  all 
round  we  can  see  what  gain  may  accrueto  the 
spirituality  of  religion. 

(i)  Christ  invisible  is  a  standing  protest 
against  a  materializing  conception  or  estimate 
of  human   nature.      It   tends   to   rescue   and 

*  As  Huxley  fitly  says  :  '  I  individually  am  no  materialist, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  believe  materialism  to  involve  grave 
philosophical  error.' — Lecture  on  ^The  Physical  Basis  of  Life,' 


GAIN   TO   SPIRITUALITY      305 

detach  men  from  materialistic  views  of  our 
common  humanity  and  from  a  materialistic 
standard  of  human  life. 

For  men  to  live  only  in  the  visible,  is  to 
live  low  dowTi  in  the  scale  of  being.  To  live 
in  and  for  the  senses,  is  to  approximate  to 
animalism,  or  to  that  degeneracy  of  human 
nature  which  would  reduce  to  a  minimum 
whatever  differentiates  it  from  the  brute 
creation.  Insensibility  to  the  unseen,  how  it 
detracts  from  the  w^orth  and  dignity  of  a  man 
by  dragging  him  down  to  the  verge  of  the 
irrational !  If  earned  out  consistently  to  its 
logical  issues,  it  would  justify  a  man  dealing 
with  his  fellow  man  as  but  a  superior  animal, 
and  would  entitle  him  to  extend  to  him  just 
what  such  an  animal's  position  requires.  It 
would  justify  a  return  to  slavery,  and  to  all 
the  horrors  of  the  savage  state,  as  being  the 
natural  and  appropriate  one  for  a  creature 
immersed  in  and  occupied  only  about  secular 
and  material  things.  What  a  caricature  this 
would  be  of  human  nature  ! 

Man  will  worship  ;  but  for  him  to  worship 
at  the  shrine  of  the  visible  and  material  alone, 
would  be  to  enter  into  the  spirit  of  the  beast 
that  goeth  downward,  and  to  discredit  and 
set   at    nought    the    'spirit   of   a   man'   that 

20 


306    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

looketh  upward,  as  the  very  structure  of  even 
his  material  frame  itself  shows. 

Men  take  after  what  they  worship,  and  are 
moulded  upon  their  conceptions  of  the  God 
they  serve.  For  it  is  just  *  as  He  is,  so  are 
we  in  this  world.'  And  the  converse  also 
holds  good — '  as  we  ourselves  are,  so  will  we 
fashion  the  object  we  worship.'  Low  con- 
ceptions here  mean  low  conceptions  of  our- 
selves, of  our  nature,  our  life,  and  the  nature, 
life,  and  claims  of  others. 

Mere  materialism  therefore  tends  to  bar- 
barism. Its  creed  of  '  Believe  just  in  what 
you  see  and  eat  and  feel  and  smell,  and  make 
it  a  chief  or  only  end  of  life  to  better  the 
physical  and  material  condition,'  means  in 
its  ultimate  issue  inevitable  death  to  civilized 
existence.  Doubtless  all  the  elements  of 
material  and  physical  well-being  are  to  be 
sedulously  cultivated  and  attended  to,  but  not 
exclusively  or  supremely.  This  outer  and 
lower  side  of  nature  is  a  side  of  duty  we  ought 
to  do,  while  not  leaving  the  inner  and  higher 
side  undone.  *  Seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God 
and  His  righteousness,  and  all  these  things 
[which  the  heathen  put  first  and  foremost]  shall 
be  added  unto  you.'  There  is  no  security 
for  advanced  civihzation  apart   from  a  sense 


GAIN   TO   SPIRITUALITY      307 

of  invisible  and  perennial  realities.  This  sense 
may  be  weak  and,  to  a  large  extent,  inopera- 
tive in  many  natures,  but  to  abolish  it  alto- 
gether implies  that  the  framework  of  civilized 
life  must  fall  to  pieces,  as  a  skeleton  does 
when  the  backbone  is  abstracted.  Even 
human  law,  which  aims  only  at  visible  order 
or  social  well-being,  and  which  lays  chief 
stress  on  such  virtues,  as  truth,  honesty, 
and  justice,  that  hold  society  together,  can 
never  itself  safely  ignore  appeals  to  the  in- 
visible conditions  and  influences  of  life. 

Thus  the  conception  of  Christ  invisible, 
while  it  may  not  necessarily  amount  to  positive 
security  against  materialistic  habits  of  thought 
and  action,  is  yet  on  the  negative  side  an 
abiding  protest  against  self-satisfied  materialism. 

(ii)  The  conception  of  a  Christ  invisible  is 
a  standing  pr^otest  against  mere  materializing 
of  worship  and  religious  ordinances.  We  have 
a  twofold  nature  indeed,  and  both  sides  of  it 
must  engage  in  and  be  served  and  suited  by 
worship.  While  we  are  '  in  the  body '  we 
need  outward  helps  to  worship,  yet  *  bodily 
service '  profiteth  little,  and  may  be  easily 
divorced  from  a  worship  in  spirit.  We  have 
ever  to  guard  against  turning  God's  worship 
into  a  formality  or  parade  of  mere  ritual  and 


308    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

ceremonial  observance.  Religion,  to  be  of 
any  vital  worth,  must  have  a  truly  spiritual 
principle  at  its  centre,  so  as  to  maintain  a 
solid  core  of  vital  heat. 

A  craving  after  or  a  resting  in  a  religion  of 
outward  rites  and  ceremonies  is  no  fruit  of  the 
spirit,  but  is  essentially  a  something  bred  of 
superstition,  or  issuing  in  it.  For  what  is  the 
essence  of  superstition  but  an  expectation  that 
spiritual  results  will  necessarily  accrue  in  some 
mechanical  or  opus  operatum  sort  of  way  from 
a  merely  material  use  of  material  means  ? 

Yet  the  mere  going  through  a  form  of 
worship  is  no  worship  at  all,  however  excellent 
the  form  may  be,  unless  both  head  and  heart 
be  engaged  at  the  time  in  the  service.  And  it 
is  a  matter  of  common  observation  that  when 
men  cease  to  worship  in  spirit,  they  soon  cease 
to  worship  in  truth.  So  readily  do  they  adopt 
devices  of  their  own  ftmcy,  which  they  think 
to  answer  better  than  what  is  morally  or 
divinely  presented  because  they  accord  better 
with  their  own  tastes  and  likings.  This  is  the 
origin  and  fruitful  source  of  superstitious  cor- 
ruptions in  religious  observances.  And  as  we 
at  present  find  human  nature,  how  prone  it  is 
to  prefer  the  material  to  the  spiritual  in  religion, 
the  speculative  to  the  practical,  the  sentimen- 


GAIN   TO   SPIRITUALITY      309 

tal  to  the  moral,  the  mechanical  to  the 
dynamical,  the  outward  to  the  inward,  the 
subordinate  to  the  essential,  and  external  rites 
to  vital  principles  !  How  easily  do  many 
imagine  that  prayer  offered  in  one  place  is 
more  effectual  than  that  offered  in  another — in 
a  church,  for  example,  than  in  a  private  chamber, 
or  before  the  image  of  some  saint  rather  than 
of  some  other  ;  or  that  wearing  some  sacred 
relic  will  secure  protection  against  evil  spirits, 
or  against  some  misfortune,  or  bad-luck,  or  evil 
disease  !  What  is  all  this  but  magic,  and  not 
religion  at  all  ?  and  how  rebuked  it  stands 
before  the  conception  of  an  invisible  Christ 
being  Himself  our  only  Saviour  ! 

Nor  is  any  so-called  simplicity  or  baldness 
of  service  a  guarantee  for  spirituality  in 
worship.  How  easily  may  the  plainest 
service  degenerate  into  slovenliness,  if  the  in- 
visible Saviour  is  not  Himself  realized  !  How 
easy  for  ordinances  of  grace  to  be  regarded 
as  though  they  were  of  themselves  guarantees 
of  the  grace  of  ordinances  ;  as  if  the  laying 
down  of  water-pipes  should  necessarily  involve 
the  presence  of  water  in  them !  There  may 
be  the  best  and  most  aesthetic  aids  of 
worship,  but  how  readily  may  the  means 
be    regarded   as   an    end,   and   how    speedily 


310    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

the  handmaid  or  servant  may  usurp  the 
position  of  master  or  mistress !  The  things 
of  the  Spirit  must  be  spiritually  discerned ; 
and  the  invisibleness  of  Christ  is  an  aid  to 
spiritual  discernment,  or  the  felt  need  of  it. 

Forms  of  worship  we  must  use,  but  not 
mere  forms  apart  from  inner  thought  and 
desire.^ 

Christ's  invisibleness  is  a  constant  reminder 
that  true  and  acceptable  worship  requires  not 
outward  ceremonies  so  much  as  inward  thought 
and  desire ;  that  the  moral  in  worship  is 
always  of  higher  moment  than  the  ritual ; 
that  true  piety  has  to  do  primarily  with  the 
internal  and  spontaneous  working  of  our  spirit 
rather  than  with  the  circumstantials  of  place, 
posture,  or  other  mere  externals  in  the  pre- 
cincts of  the  senses. 

(iii)  Christ's  invisibleness  is  a  standing  pro- 
test against  a  materializing  estimate  of  His 
own  life  upon  earth.  The  most  materialistic 
view  of  that  earthly  life  is  to  regard  it  as 
something  detached  from  the  ever-abiding  life 
of  His  which  is  set  forth  in  His  own  great 

^  This  world  is  a  Form  ;  our  bodies  are  Forms  ;  and  no  visible 
acts  of  devotion  can  be  without  forms.  But  yet  the  less  form  in 
relig^ion  the  better,  since  He  Whom  we  worship  is  a  Spirit. 
The  more  mental  our  worship  the  more  adequate  and  suitable  to 
Him. — William  Penn. 


GAIN   TO   SPIRITUALITY      311 

word,  *  Lo  !  I  am  with  you  alway.'  It  were 
mischievous  to  conceive  of  His  hfe  as  some- 
thing belonging  only  to  the  records  of  the 
past,  and  yet  more  mischievous  to  deal  with 
it  as  a  matter  chiefly  of  antiquarian  interest 
and  curiosity,  such  as  gathers  round  more 
humanly  distinguished  names  and  characters 
of  bygone  days.  This  is  a  low,  false,  and 
wholly  unworthy  point  of  view  ;  as  if  Jesus 
had  played  His  part  on  the  world's  stage, 
had  left  an  abiding  mark  and  influence,  like 
other  great  heroes,  teachers,  sages,  and  the 
like,  and  whose  few  years  of  earthly  life 
and  action  can  be  best  understood  and 
illustrated  by  inquiries  into  their  external 
circumstances  and  environment — into  the 
customs  of  the  people,  the  climate,  the 
topography,  the  language,  the  idioms  or 
dialects,  the  political  and  social  usages  in 
the  midst  of  which  He  lived  and  moved. 
What  a  protest  against  all  this  we  may  find 
in  Christ  as  an  invisible  reality  1 

No  doubt  all  this  is  valuable  and  very 
precious  as  a  framework  for  vivifying  and 
enhancing  the  features  of  His  outer  biography  ; 
but  if  the  appreciation  of  His  life  ends  there, 
the  true  significance  of  even  His  earthly 
existence  is  evacuated,  and  the  main  appeal 


312    CHKIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

is  made  to  the  merely  natural  intelligence, 
while  the  real  inwardness  of  His  mission  to 
earth  is  quietly  ignored,  and  the  whole  glory 
of  His  person.  His  power,  and  His  abiding 
presence  is  kept  in  the  background,  if  not 
entirely  relegated  to  the  visionary  sphere  of 
theological  abstractions. 

Christ  invisible  is  the  assurance  to  us  of 
His  abiding  life  and  action,  still  as  real  and 
true  as  any  life  and  action  of  His  on  earth, 
when  He  walked  on  it  in  bodily  form 
centuries  ago. 

Christ  invisible  attests  the  ever-living,  the 
ever-present,  the  ever-operative  Lord  and 
Redeemer. 

Many  are  tempted  to  deal  with  Holy 
Scripture  in  the  same  naturalistic  way. 
Now,  the  invisibleness  of  Christ  is  : 

(iv)  A  standing  protest  against  materializing 
methods  of  handling  the  living  oiricles  of  the 
Word  of  God.  It  tends  to  lift  the  mind 
from  materializing  views  of  Holy  Scrijpture. 
The  record  of  the  Divine  revelation,  which 
culminates  in  the  life,  character,  and  work 
of  Jesus  Christ,  is  given  us  in  the  form  of  a 
book,  in  a  volume  called  the  Bible,  which 
we  can  see,  and  read,  and  handle.  This 
physically   visible    witness    to   the   truth    we 


GAIN   TO   SPIRITUALITY      313 

are  apt  to  mistake  for  the  truth  itself  of 
which  it  testifies,  and  many  are  tempted 
to  put  the  one  in  place  of  the  other. 
Longing  for  a  trusty  external  support  of 
their  faith,  many  are  ready  to  lean  upon  it, 
rather  than  upon  Him  of  Whom  it  is  meant 
to  testify.  There  is  a  vast  amount  of  honest 
Christian  faith  that  quietly  reposes  upon  the 
Bible,  rather  than  upon  Him  for  Whose  sake 
it  was  written.  Many  people,  if  asked  on 
what  their  faith  rests,  will  answer  at  once, 
*On  the  Bible.'  Why  do  they  hold  the 
Christian  faith  ?  Simply  and  wholly,  they 
will  say,  because  the  Bible  tells  them  so. 
It  is  through  the  Bible  they  know  it,  and 
because  of  the  Bible  they  receive  it.  In 
short,  they  forget  that  the  Bible  is  a  means 
to  an  end,  and  not  the  final  end  itself;  it 
is  a  help  to  Christian  faith,  not  the  object 
of  that  faith — still  less  the  foundation  of  it. 
Yet  what,  they  say,  do  we  know  of  Jesus 
the  Saviour  except  through  the  Bible  ?  And 
so  the  Bible  comes  in  between  them  and 
the  Saviour,  just  as  ofttimes  a  means  of 
grace  like  the  Lord's  Supper,  instead  of 
leading  to  the  Saviour,  is  put  in  His  place 
and  usurps  the  honour  due  to  Himself  alone. 
A  star  is  revealed  to  us  through  a  telescope  ; 


314    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

but  the  telescope  is  not  the  star,  and  is  not 
to  be  the  object  of  our  gaze,  however 
wonderful  an  object  it  may  be  of  itself. 
The  Bible  is  only  the  telescope — a  truthful 
and  truth-registering  instrument,  no  doubt — 
but  our  faith  must  find  its  final  object  not 
in  the  instrument  itself,  but  in  Him  Whom 
it  brings  into  view. 

Bibliolatry,  or  blind  Bible-worship,  may  be 
and  often  is  a  very  seriously  materializing  use 
and  misconception  of  what  the  Bible  really 
is  and  what  it  is  for.  For  the  Bible  is  of 
the  highest  value,  not  so  much  in  what  it 
may  outwardly  exhibit  and  teach,  as  in  what 
it  authoritatively  and  spiritually  suggests.  It 
is  wonderful  not  only  in  what,  when  read,  it 
presents  to  the  eye  in  simple  and  unmistakable 
form,  but  in  what  it  conveys  of  things  invisible 
and  Divine  to  the  spiritually- taught  soul. 

Thus  it  is,  like  outer  Nature  itself,  inex- 
haustibly suggestive.  There  is  no  end  to  what 
it  contains.  But  this  exhaustlessness  is  in 
its  subject-matter,  not  in  its  own  conveyancing 
power.  No  doubt  a  telescope  must  give  us 
assurance  of  the  accuracy  and  exactness  of 
itself  as  an  instrument,  if  we  are  to  trust  its 
witnessing  power  and  testimony.  But  this 
mews  we   must  test  it,   adjust   it,  critically 


GAIN   TO   SPIRITUALITY      315 

handle  it ;  for  it  exists  for  the  purpose,  not 
of  giving  assurance  of  itself  so  much  as  of 
giving  assurance  to  us  that  by  it  we  accurately 
descry  what  it  is  meant  to  reveal  and  bring 
to  our  view.  But  while  we  ought  to  do  this, 
we  ought  not  to  become  wholly  absorbed  with 
it,  as  if  it  were  the  main  thing.  This  is  no 
reason  why  any  should  become  so  engrossed 
in  the  externals  of  Scripture  or  in  questions 
of  higher  or  lower  criticisms,  or  in  matters  of 
antiquarian,  archgeological,  or  literary  interest, 
as  to  forget  or  become  oblivious  to  the  higher 
realities  of  the  spiritual,  eternal,  and  invisible 
things  for  which  alone  it  actually  exists. 

(v)  Christ's  invisibleness  is  a  standing  protest 
against  materializing  conceptions  of  the  Church, 
No  doubt  the  Church  has  its  visible  and  mun- 
dane side,  entering  as  it  does  into  human, 
social,  and  political  history,  and  having  its 
relations  to  property,  business,  and  other 
earthly  associations.  For  these  ends  it  has 
an  organization  and  a  temporal  side,  which, 
however,  it  is  easy  to  overvalue,  and  to  which 
there  may  be  undue  importance  attached. 
For  it  is  primarily  a  fellowship  rather  than 
an  organization  ;  a  society  or  mystical  body 
rather  than  an  ecclesiastical  constitution  which 
is   largely  of  human    devising  and   ordering. 


316    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

The  appreciation  of  a  King  and  Head  in- 
visible over  it  forbids  that  it  should  usurp 
His  place  and  prerogatives  or  put  itself  in  His 
room,  but  it  requires  that  she  should  be 
faithful  to  her  high  calling,  and  never  lose 
sight  of  the  ends  she  ought  to  serve  and  for 
which  she  chiefly  subsists. 

For  while  it  is  the  Saviour  alone  Who  saves, 
and  it  is  only  He  Who  can  raise  the  spiritually 
dead,  open  the  eyes  of  the  spiritually  blind, 
and  vouchsafe  the  blessings  of  grace  to  the 
spiritually  needy,  the  Church  must  realize  she 
is  Christ's  Church,  subordinate  to  Himself, 
and  subsisting  for  the  accomplishment  of  His 
work  and  in  His  Spirit. 

The  Church  can  point  the  way,  can  preach 
the  truth,  and  proffer  the  life ;  but  it  is  His 
prerogative  alone  to  say,  'I  am  the  way,  I  am 
the  truth,  I  am  the  life.'  But  as  the  pillar 
and  ground  of  the  truth  the  Church  must 
hold  Christ  up  before  the  eyes  of  men  and 
seek  to  exalt  Him  and  make  Him  visible  to 
the  world ;  its  business  being  to  witness  for 
Him,  and  truly  to  represent  Him  before  men, 
and  be  a  rally ing-place  for  all  to  worship  Him 
and  manifest  that  they  belong  to  His  service. 

The  Church  is  formed  as  a  union  and 
brotherhood   for    establishing    and   advancing 


GAIN   TO   SPIRITUALITY      317 

the  kingdom  of  God,  for  maintaining  a  high 
standard  of  spiritual  character,  and  for  aiding 
in  the  development  of  a  progressively  Christian 
life  and  experience.  It  is  not,  indeed,  itself 
the  kingdom  of  God,  which  is  meant  to  cover 
all  the  activities  of  men  and  all  the  varied 
interests  of  earthly  existence,  so  as  to  permeate 
them  all  with  the  Christian  spirit  and  subdue 
them  all  to  the  Christian  ideal ;  but  it  is  the 
instrument  and  agency  in  the  hand  of  the 
Divine  Spirit  for  accomplishing  these  ends, 
and  for  turning  the  whole  family  of  mankind 
into  a  real  family  of  God  on  earth,  and  for 
making  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  the 
kingdom  of  our  God  and  of  His  Christ.  It 
is  for  this  end  that  the  Church  is  endowed 
with  certain  spiritual  rights  and  prerogatives, 
so  as  to  manifest  itself  as  a  really  Divine 
institution,  moulding  and  nourishing  the  faith, 
hope,  and  love  of  its  members,  and  so  qualifying 
itself  for  its  great  mission  of  spreading  the 
Gospel  throughout  all  the  world.  From  these 
high  claims  and  aims  it  must  never  allow  itself 
to  be  dragged  down  to  seek  earthly  things  or 
be  moulded  by  earthly  models  and  standards. 

(vi)  Finally,  the  conception  of  an  invisible 
Christ  is  a  standing  protest  against  any 
materializing  of  the  Christian  life  itself.     This 


318    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

is  a  life  that  aims  at  something  higher  than 
what  is  simply  of  the  earth,  earthy,  and  keeps 
its  eye  on  other  than  mere  outward,  worldly, 
and  conventional  morality.  It  is  a  life  born 
from  above,  and  that  tends,  therefore,  upwards. 
It  has  springs  and  motives  very  different  from 
those  which  are  derived  solely  or  supremely 
from  considerations  of  time  and  sense.  It  is 
a  life  that  is  lived  in  the  world,  but  is  not 
itself  of  the  world.  It  has  an  affection  set 
upon  things  above,  and  not  solely  or  chiefly 
upon  things  that  are  on  the  earth.  Not  that 
it  runs  away  out  of  the  world,  or  neglects 
the  duties  and  requirements  of  the  relation- 
ships of  earth,  or  breaks  the  natural  ties 
that  bind  men  in  family,  social,  ecclesiastical, 
political,  and  other  outward  fellowships ;  but 
it  has  its  sources  and  resources  none  the  less 
'hid  with  Christ  in  God.'  Its  thoughts  and 
desires  are  not  bounded  by  the  sphere  of 
the  visible,  material,  or  physical.  It  has 
discovered  another  and  superior  sphere  of 
conscious,  active  existence,  in  which  it  finds 
itself  at  home,  and  to  which  it  can  withdraw 
for  pleasures  and  treasures  it  cannot  find  out- 
side and  beyond  it — as  a  man  retreats  from 
the  cares  and  toils  and  worries  of  his  business 
hours  to  the   quiet   and    calm   and  peace  he 


GAIN  TO   SPIRITUALITY      319 

finds  in  the  bosom  and  affections  and  occu- 
pancies of  his  family.  In  the  world,  it  is  not 
a  life  conformed  to  the  world  and  not  domi- 
nated by  the  world,  but  transformed  by  the 
renewing  of  its  disposition,  and  so  seeking  to 
overcome  the  evil,  and  not  be  overcome  by  it. 
In  this  respect  it  follows  in  the  footsteps  of 
the  Leader  and  Lord,  Who  lived  in  a  high 
sense  for  the  world  and  for  its  good,  bore  the 
world's  burdens,  and  felt  for  and  shared  its 
temptations,  sufferings,  and  griefs,  yet  lived 
high  above  the  standard,  views,  ends,  and 
aims  of  this  outer  and  passing  fashion  of 
things ;  using  all,  yet  abusing  none  of  them, 
knowing  that  they  neither  abide,  nor  do  they 
satisfy.  In  Christ  is  life — life  worth  living,  a 
life  drawing  support  from  the  ever-present 
yet  invisible  Christ  of  God,  and  enjoying 
experiences  that  wing  their  way  like  the  dove 
to  where  it  knows  true  peace,  comfort,  pro- 
tection, and  joyous  hope  can  always  be  found. 
It  fixes  its  eye  and  its  grasp  on  things  above, 
where  Christ  Himself  sitteth ;  and  while  it 
looks  not  at  things  which  are  seen,  but  at 
things  which  are  unseen,  it  is  hid  as  in  an 
upper  pavilion  from  fears  and  forebodings. 
As  well  might  the  wind  and  storm,  the  rain 
and  sleet,  be  conceived  of  as  driven  upward 


320    CHRIST  INVISIBLE  OUR  GAIN 

against  '  the  sunny  blue  that  o^^erarches  them ' 
as  that  the  peace  and  tranquil  assurance  of 
this  higher  life  can  be  disturbed  and  destroyed 
by  the  stormy  clouds  and  threatening  blasts 
that  are  generated  of  the  present  and  visible 
condition  of  things,  but  which  pertain  not  to 
the  constitution  of  things  unseen  and  eternal. 


THE   END 


Printed  by  Huzeil,  Watson  d-  Viney,  Ld.,  London  and  Ayltsbwy. 


DATE  DUE 

'•»my 

^ 

OAVLORD 

Theological  Seminary-Speer  Ubrary 


1012  01019  8036 


